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May 15, 2025 · 1 hr 8 min · The Greatest
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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Understanding and Believing Your Blessings 0:00 By saying the word amen. Amen. A year and a half ago, we had a consulting group come into our church and as a staff, we took personality tests and we were trying to learn a little more about0:12 each other, and I've taken a lot of personality tests, I'm sure you have too, but each and every time they all have a little bit of nuance to them and you can learn a little more. And really all it shows you is what your0:21 temperaments like, kind of what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, some of your preferences. And we had fun dissecting this as a staff and getting to know each other better, and we we already knew each other0:31 pretty well. And, you know, 1 thing that they shared about me when now when they were taking my test is when we were discussing who I was, they asked me this question. They said, do you ever leave the house in the0:40 morning and forget to bring some things with you? And I said, yeah, about every day. Said, normally it's either my keys. If it's not my keys, it's my wallet. If it's not my wallet, it's my sunglasses. If it's not my0:51 sunglasses, it's my phone. I mean, inevitably I'm sitting in my truck and I'm getting ready to back out. I'm like, oh yeah, I forgot my book bag. Something like that. I mean, it's so routine for me that when they started1:00 telling me and said, Well that's kinda how you're wired. To which my wife was like, Amen, I know that about him. And then they asked this question, like, When you go on vacation, do you ever recognize that maybe you1:09 forgot some things and you need to go pick up stuff? I'm like, are you kidding me? I said, the first stop we make after our rental car is Walgreens or CVS. We don't even hesitate. That's what we do. And as I was learning1:21 about myself, it made me feel good to know that's just, that's just a weakness I have. I have strengths. I have weaknesses just like you have strengths and you have weaknesses, but my forgetfulness in the small details1:30 of things is something that just comes with how God made me. And we can talk about personalities, we can talk about different things, but what's tragic is when we forget spiritual truths. And so often for those of1:42 us in the body of Christ, we have what I call spiritual amnesia. We read the word, we know the word to be true, we even would say we believe the word, but then when it comes to putting it into practice, we oftentimes1:54 forget, like, what was it I believe and how do I really hold on to that? Today, I wanna talk to you about believe your blessings. Believe your blessings. Now we talk often in the church, we say2:05 stuff like this, like, count your blessings. You ever heard that before? Count your blessings. What we mean by that is we have a lot more to be thankful for than to be discouraged by because our God is the giver of every2:16 good and perfect gift. And sometimes if we count our blessings, we can sit down and start writing them and realize, well, I'm thankful for that and I'm thankful for this group of people. I'm thankful for my mom, my dad,2:25 my coach, my teacher, the income I have. I'm thankful for all of those things. But sometimes we don't take enough time to count our blessings. The second thing we don't do a good job in the church is enjoying our2:36 blessings. Sometimes God gives us blessings, but we're afraid to talk about them as blessings. For instance, sometimes we've been trying as a couple, as a married couple to get pregnant. We get pregnant, but we don't2:47 wanna share our blessing because we know somebody else in the church or in our small group and they're trying to get pregnant and they couldn't get pregnant, so we don't wanna share that. Or we get engaged to get2:56 married. We've been waiting for a long time and we're excited about that. We know it's the Lord's blessing on our life, but we don't really wanna enjoy it or share it because there's somebody else in the church and3:04 they're trying to get married and they haven't found the right person yet, and it might make them feel bad. Or we get a promotion or a job that we weren't expecting, but we're afraid to enjoy that blessing because we're3:15 afraid because there's somebody else in the church and they're unemployed and they've been praying in our small group about getting the job. So he's gonna quiet it down and we don't enjoy the very things God has given to3:24 us. But what's even more tragic than not counting your blessings or enjoying your blessings is this, not believing the blessings that you already have. And by believing, I'm not talking about cognizant awareness of3:36 what some of the blessings are. It is believing in the sense of I am holding on to this with everything I have because this is what God has given to me and this is who he3:48 says I am. Question is, do you believe it? Not, do you say, yeah, that's true.4:00 Do you own it? In your gut, do you believe? Because I'm here to tell you today, a majority of Christians that hear this message do not believe any of the 5 blesses. They might give mental assent to it. They4:12 might say, well, there's some truth in that, but they don't own them. And if you don't own them, you miss out on all the good things that God has for you. I wanna encourage you to open your Bible today to Hebrews chapter4:23 10. Hebrews chapter 10. And as we unpack this first part of the chapter, we're gonna go through 25 verses today. And I'm gonna highlight 5 truths that you can believe, 5 blessings4:35 that God has given to you that you can understand. And the first is the longest section of the scripture. We're gonna go through the first 25 verses. The first 1 is the first 18 verses. And the reason we're gonna cover4:46 that collectively is for those of you that have been coming, these verses, we've been talking about every single 1 of them. It's a highlight of all that we've been talking about and here's the blessings.4:58 The first is this, believe your blessings in the new covenant because of Christ's life. Believe your blessings in the new covenant because of Christ's life. Notice Hebrews chapter 10 starts by saying5:10 this, for the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year, make5:22 perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, they would not have ceased to be offered because the worshipers having once been cleansed would no longer have had consciousness of sin. Friends,5:33 we've been talking about the new covenant. You ever heard the statement, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. K. It's not that the old covenant was broken. It was just that the old covenant was5:45 insufficient to do what the new covenant can do. If it could do what the new covenant could do, we wouldn't need the new covenant. If the old covenant could do what the new covenant could do, Jesus Christ would have5:57 never needed to come. We are under what's called the new covenant, which we started talking about a few weeks ago, which is when Jesus Christ inaugurated it through his death,6:09 burial, and resurrection from the grave. And here's what the author is trying to make the point of. The author is trying to make the point, if the old covenant was so good and could do everything the new covenant could6:19 do, you wouldn't need the new covenant. But because the old covenant couldn't do what the new covenant could do, Jesus Christ came to establish and inaugurate a new covenant for which we live.6:31 We have a blessing we need to believe and the blessing is the new covenant. He starts by saying this in verse 2, otherwise, they wouldn't have needed to keep giving the offerings.6:44 They kept giving offering after offering after offering day after day, month after month, year after year. But guess what the problem was with the offerings? The blood offerings that were given, the gifts6:56 that were given did not cleanse you from your sin. The only thing the old covenant did was establish that God's standard is perfect, and he's holy, righteous, and good. It also established that you weren't,7:08 and every time you gathered, especially on the day of atonement, it was a yearly, daily, monthly reminder that God's holy and you're not. And oh, by the way, the priest has7:19 prayed prayers for you. He's and your sin is covered, but it's not cleansed, which means the shame you feel and the guilt you have, guess what? Keep having those feelings because your sin hasn't gone anywhere.7:32 God's just overlooking it for a season until the Messiah comes. That's what he's talking about. But we live in the new covenant. He goes on to tell us this. But in those sacrifices is the old covenant. It's a7:43 reminder of sins year by year. Why? For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. The sacrifices in the old testament never took away any sins. Sin was never atoned for.7:55 It was never gone. It was simply covered until the Messiah would get here. And then he begins to quote Psalm 40 starting in verse 5. He says, therefore, when he comes into the world, he says, sacrifice and offering you8:07 have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you've taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of8:19 me to do your will, oh God. And saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices are for sins you have not desired, nor have you taken pleasure in them, which8:31 are offered according to the law. Then he said, behold, I have come to do your will, he who takes away the first order to establish the second. Here's the problem.8:43 They had the same problem in the first century that we have today. They preferred rituals and rules and regulations to a genuine relationship with God. The Jews of the first century8:55 were saying, well, how do we get our sin covered anymore? And we're we're not going through the same rituals, and a priest won't let us come in because we're following Jesus now. So who's gonna atone for our sins and9:05 who's gonna do all that? And the author is writing telling them, it's not about that anymore. That never cured your sin in the first place. That was always a foreshadowing, or a shadow, or a type of what was to come, and9:17 now that Christ has come, he has come to cleanse you from the inside out of all your sins. If the old covenant could do that, Jesus would never have needed to come. Now you say, well, that doesn't mean a9:29 whole lot to me. Here's what I mean. You and I prefer religious rituals and rhetoric to a true relationship with Jesus. Something we9:41 can contribute to God so that he'll be pleased with us. We like that. We don't like the fact that there's nothing you can do to get closer to God. Your sin separates you from God. God is9:53 angry with your sin every day, and even your best efforts cannot make you right with God. Your re your spirituality, you're going to books that you read, you go to fortune10:04 tellers, you go to church, you do all these things thinking that if I just do this, then God will be pleased. And here's what the Bible points out. He's not pleased with you at all. There's nothing you can do to get10:15 right with God. Sometimes we prefer religious rituals. Some people like to go to churches where the pastor wears a robe because they think that's more spiritual. Those of you that come here, come here because the pastor10:26 doesn't wear a robe and you think that's better. Some people go to churches where there's organ music or a higher liturgy. Some people like music. Some people don't like music and we tend to think10:38 that if I go to certain places or do certain things, then that's going to make me more spiritual. If I get around certain people that are deemed more spiritual, then I'm going to be more spiritual. Here's all the old10:47 covenant pointed out. You're not spiritual, you're dead. God's holy, and that's all you can do. And your sin's being covered, but until the Messiah comes, your sin can't be taken away. So you better believe in the10:59 promise that God's gonna send a Messiah. But the new covenant's different. Can I just tell you it's night and day different? It's different than anything that had ever been established because Jesus said, behold, I've11:11 come to do your will. What the old testament sacrificial system couldn't do, Jesus Christ came to fulfill. Future, the Messiah. See, God was not satisfied with rivers of11:22 animal blood and carcasses. That didn't please God. God also was not satisfied with ritual and routine because what satisfies the heart of God is contrition and a change of heart.11:34 When we're sorry for our sin and we desire to change, that's what moves the heart of God. Notice what he says about this new covenant. I mean, you can need to get this down in your soul and believe it. Says, by this we11:45 have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. How have we been made holy? How have we been set apart? How are11:57 we able to be right with God? Say it again. Some of you have friends who12:09 are quote spiritual or they go to other forms of religious practices, or they tell you that their angels talk to them, or they journal in a special way, or they feel something on the inside. Here's what you can12:21 know for sure. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and no 1, but no 1 comes to the father except through him. That's the new covenant. That's the new promise. That's the new12:33 testament. That's why Jesus Christ as the God man, God of always being God, man flesh of all flesh, the God man Jesus laid down his life on the cross. If you have12:45 repented of your sin and believe in Jesus, you can have life with God in relationship. If you don't, you don't have relationship with God, period. End of story according to the Bible. That's what he's talking about. And12:56 he's saying if there's any dispensation you could live in, you wanna live in this 1. Because when Jesus died, how many times did he die? 1 time. How many sins did he die for? All. How many13:08 people did he die for? All. How sufficient was it? Complete. The priest had to stand daily and make sacrifices, monthly and make sacrifices. Once a year, they had to get into the the holy of13:20 holies. Jesus Christ came and did what they were trying to do every single day. He did it in 1 specific act by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. You know what it says in verse 11? Every priest stands daily13:31 ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, but he, Jesus, having offered 1 sacrifice for all time, sat down at the13:43 right hand of God. That means when Jesus got to heaven, he sat down saying, my work's done here. But he, waiting from that time until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.13:55 Friends, make no mistake about Jesus Christ is coming back. Even the people who say, oh, I'm not gonna believe in Jesus. You're you'll be the footstool for his feet. His enemies will be underneath him. Jesus Christ has14:05 all authority in heaven and on earth right now. And at the right time, when the father sends the son to go collect his church and bring us to heaven with him, and that happens, I promise you14:17 Jesus will show himself authoritative. But notice verse 14, 1 of my favorite verses in the entire new testament. For by 1 offering, he has perfected for all time those who14:29 are sanctified. Jesus Christ's 1 offering. What has he done for those who have repented and believed? What has he done for those people? He's perfected them for all14:40 time. Those that are sanctified, those that are being sanctified, which means this, trusted in Jesus Christ, that means he's come to indwell14:52 you through his Holy Spirit. And the way God sees you through the blood of his son is what? Perfect. Your behavior is how you see yourself. That's15:04 imperfect. The blood is how God sees you through his son. That's perfect. Have you ever thought about yourself as perfect? I'm not talking about behavior. I mean, you can just ask my family in the15:16 front row. They will, they will tell you that I'm not perfect. I'm not talking about behavior. I'm talking about positionally the way God sees you right now. If you've trusted Jesus, he sees you as perfect and he's in15:27 the process of making you holy so that presently, while you're positionally perfect, in the future, in reality, you will be too. That when Jesus presents you before the father with exceedingly great joy,15:39 he will present you faultless at the time he presents you to his dad. Is that incredible or what? Now think about it. If you believe that, not just like, oh, that sounds like a nice truth, but if you believe15:51 that, you're not walking around like, look at me, I'm perfect. That's not what you're saying. You're walking around saying, because of the blood of Jesus in me, God sees me as already perfect, and16:03 he's in the process of making me that way. And when I enter heaven, I will be declared perfect, and I will be perfect, not because of anything I've done, but because of who Jesus Christ is.16:15 Is that incredible? Most Christians, when it comes to understanding the new covenant, they think about the cross, and they should. We should talk about the16:26 cross. It's through the cross that Jesus Christ shed his blood. It's through the cross that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin. It's never wrong to talk about the cross, but so often Christians stop at the cross.16:38 But I'm here to tell you, don't just go to the cross, go through the cross, because the Jesus I'm telling you about rose from the dead. The Jesus I'm telling you about is just as alive today as he's ever been. The Jesus16:49 I'm telling you about is the 1 whose life wants to dwell in and through you. And in the new covenant, the new promise, it's not about you trying to make yourself right or dance through the right rituals17:01 or do the right routine. It's receiving the grace of Jesus Christ in your life so that his life living in and through you is Christ's glory coming out to give you hope for your future. And if you17:13 live knowing that you're already perfected, how different will you live? You say, well, why don't I feel that way? Well, because you have an enemy that's gonna show you all the time your behavior and why you're not17:24 perfect. He's gonna tell you why you're not perfect. That's why we have to believe the word. We have to believe our blessings. 1 of the blessings we have is people who have repented and believed in Christ. 1 of the17:34 blessings is positionally we're already perfect and God's in the process of making us that in reality. So 1 day when we get to heaven, we will be declared perfect and we will be. When we see each other in heaven, we're17:45 not gonna know what it means to sin. We're not gonna know how to mistreat 1 another. We're gonna be as perfect as Jesus is. Is that amazing or what? Most Christians fear going to heaven for the fear that there's like 417:57 big screens behind them like there is for me and that God's gonna show you your life and we'll all be sitting there eating popcorn, like, seriously? You let them in? No way, no way. When God brings18:09 you into heaven, he's gonna show you perfect. And we're gonna say, woah, look at what God did in her life and look at what God did in his life. And it's through the blood of18:21 Jesus we've been made that way. And the Holy Spirit also testifies for us saying this. He's gonna quote Jeremiah 31 31 to 34. He said, this is the covenant I will make with them. After those days, says the18:33 Lord, I will put my laws in their heart and on their minds, I will write them. He says, in their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness of these things,18:45 there is no longer any offering for sin. Did you hear what I just read? God forgives all your sins and he doesn't bring them up anymore. You say, Well then why do I18:57 think about it all the time? Well you have an enemy that's gonna bring them up over and over and over and over again until you believe the blessing you have, which is that in Christ through his shed blood and19:07 resurrection from the dead and you're turning from your sin and turning to your turning to Christ, it's done. It's finished. Sin is not remembered anymore. And where sin is not remembered anymore, there doesn't need to19:18 be another offering for sin. Jesus Christ already paid for that. You say, well, Pastor Jeff, this week I sinned again. He already paid for that. But what if I send later today? He already paid for19:30 that. But what about tomorrow? It's paid for too. Once and for all, paid for for those who have turned and trusted in Jesus. It's your19:41 blessing, it's your privilege. If it's your privilege, then why do so many Christians struggle to try to get right with God, when God has already made you right with himself? Why do you live in guilt, and shame, and19:53 doubt, and fear, when God already said, I declared you righteous and I've already said, you're perfect. If you know that you've already been perfected, you will live differently. If you see yourself the way God sees20:05 you, you will live differently and you'll do it in great humility because you'll know this has nothing to do with me. This was all about Jesus. Friends, that's a new covenant. Now, we've talked about different aspects of20:15 this. I'll highlight the 6 that I gave you before, but we're gonna go through them really quickly. Like the covenant I made with their fathers. It's not a works based covenant. It's a grace20:27 based covenant. It means it's not by works. You didn't do anything to earn it. God just gives it to you. He gave you the gift of his son. By trusting in his son, he gave you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly20:36 places. You didn't do anything to earn it, it's all grace. It's also internal, not external. God says the law will be on their minds and in their hearts. That's why as believers,20:48 we have the holy spirit in us. We know conviction. We know when we're doing right and we know when we're doing wrong. When we're walking in fellowship with the Lord, he prompts us and turns us, says, don't do that. Hey,20:57 you need to go visit them. Hey, stop doing this. Start doing that differently. It's internal. Internal. He says, I will be their God and they will be my people. Christianity is not about a bunch of rules and regulations21:08 and religion and coming to church every Sunday and doing all the right things. It's about having a relationship with Christ. Back to you. I do it every day. Sometimes I hear him21:20 more distinctly than other times. And he doesn't do that to me because I'm a pastor. He'll do that for anybody that is willing to seek his face. It's also experiential. It says they will know me.21:32 John 17 3 says, this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. It's not just about talking to God, it's about experiencing God presently in this age. That's part of the21:43 new covenant. Oh, by the way, there's forgiveness. He says, I'll be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more. Isn't it good to know today that the sins that21:55 you've thought about from your past, God's not thinking about them anymore. If you've trusted in Christ, they were buried with Christ in the grave. They're done with. Why do you keep thinking22:07 about them? Why do you keep living in shame and guilt? And why do you keep saying to yourself, I need to get right with God. I need to get The only way to get right with God is by believing Jesus Christ died for you and22:18 rose from the dead. And if you believe that, you've already been made right with God. And if you've been made right with God, you can't be made more right than made right perfectly.22:29 He's made you perfect. Through the blood, he sees you as perfect. Talk about divine sunglasses, s o n glasses, that God the father sees you through. He sees you like he22:41 sees his son because he sees the Jesus in you. Lot of this 1. It's present. It's now. We can22:53 experience God's presence. Think about the old covenant for a minute. The presence was in the holy of holies. It was past the holy place. It was in the most holy place. And the only 1 that could enter the most holy23:04 place, the only 1 that could experience the presence of God was the high priest. And the only time the high priest could experience the presence of God was once a year, just for a few minutes. And the only way he could23:14 experience the presence of God was if he brought the right sacrifices of blood for himself and for his people. And he could walk in there and he had to do it with great reverence and had to go through all the right23:23 routine or he would die in the presence of the Lord. And that's the only 1 in the entire nation that could experience some of the presence of God, but not in the new covenant.23:35 Because when that veil was rent or torn from top to bottom through Jesus Christ shed blood on the cross, he invited all people everywhere at any time that wanted to experience his presence23:47 presently that they could experience God's presence now. So why do I need that? Because I don't know what you're going through, but I promise you this, a touch of God's presence in your life would23:59 make all the difference in the world. Some of you are going through difficult times right now. Some of you have wayward kids right now. Some of you struggle with your finances right now. Some of you have a hard time in24:07 your job right now. Some of you having a hard time in your marriage. Some of you having a hard time in your singleness right now. You know what you need more than anything else? You need a touch from the Lord Jesus24:16 Christ knowing that he's presently with you at all times. And some of you that are celebrating all these wonderful things, you're celebrating your marriage, you're celebrating your kids, you're celebrating your new job,24:26 you're you wanna know that the God of the universe is celebrating that with you. See, the question we ask all the time, where's God? Where's God? Where's God? Well, we know that Jesus is in heaven ministering on our24:37 behalf, and oh, by the way, even if you forgot to pray this week, guess what he was doing for you all week long? Even while you were sleeping last night, he was interceding for you. He prays for you, he's ministering on24:47 your behalf. He loves you with an unconditional love, but even more than that, through the Holy Spirit, he indwells us, which means this, as a believer, everywhere you go, there God is. How good news is24:59 that? How much good news is that? You're walking into that job interview and you feel all alone. Where's God? Oh, he's right with you. You're going to have that hard conversation with somebody you don't wanna have.25:10 Where's God right now? Oh, he's with you. Our world right now, and you don't know how they're going to work out, and God's like, I'm not sweating this, and I'm with you. That's the presence of God. That's the new25:21 covenant. It means you don't need to go through a pastor or a priest to get to God. You can go directly through the Lord Jesus Christ and have access to his presence anytime you want.25:37 That's the new covenant. You're completely forgiven, you're seen as perfect. Do you believe that? Most Christians, even if they're here today say, Yeah, I believe that. In their heart they're like, I don't25:49 know that I believe it totally. Doesn't feel right. It feels a little bit arrogant for me to say that I've been declared perfect before God. It's not arrogant. It's humble because what you're really saying is I believe25:59 that I'm not, but I believe in Christ that I am. He says it about me, therefore, I believe it. And I'm telling you, if you see yourself as perfected in Christ, you will26:11 live every relationship in your life differently. You will make every decision in your life differently because you know you've been set apart. You know you've been crowned with glory and honor. You know you have a new26:21 identity. Friends, believe your blessings in the new covenant because of Christ's life. Study all the religions of the world. I I talk to people sometimes like, well, how do I know that Jesus is the only26:33 way? And I would say, well, the Bible says that, John 14 6, I am the way, the truth, and life. And they say, well, that's your Bible. What what about the rest of the study any religion you want in the world. There's no26:42 religion that makes a promise that God will come in and dwell you. There's no religion in the world that says you can't be made right with God, but God will make himself right with you. There's none of them. Christianity26:52 is so distinct that God, the father sent his son to be the savior of the world, that the new covenant is not a promise of routines and religion, religious rituals. The new covenant is a promise of God himself27:04 in the form of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for all of our sins and rising from the dead. There's no way in the world there's any other religion that even comes close. And if you understand the gospel27:16 and you understand that you've been perfected in Christ and you understand that God's going to present you perfect in Christ, you'll live your life different. And not only will you be excited about who you are, but27:25 you'll be excited to tell other people about who you are because you want them to experience that same thing you are. Friends, believe your blessings in the new covenant through Christ's life, through Christ's life.27:35 Second is this, believe your blessings in the new confidence you have because of Christ provision. Believe your blessings in the new confidence you have because of Christ provision. We have the newShow more In this video 0:00 Understanding and Believing Your Blessings27:36 Confidence and Conscience in Christ45:00 Hope, Confession, and Community
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