Pastor Jeff Shipley 9/22/24

Pastor Josiah, as I come to the conclusion of my sermon,

I would appreciate it if you could grab some men and make these two tables go back that way.

Besides selfish people, we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 10, and besides selfish people, there's another kind of folk that I just can't personally stand to be around.

And I try, and I'm not talking about Alabama fans, they're in the top ten, I'm talking about another type of person.

That's a negative person. You know what I mean? It's like, it's a great day to be alive.

Drama queens fit into this really good, you know? Oh, my whole life is over, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Or you sit there and you're celibate, I'll never forget this. We had a worship service in here and the

Lord was moving, we had like six, seven people converted and come to the Lord, man.

Our invitation time lasted about 20 minutes because people were just doing business with God, and this old bat that was sitting out in the hallway,

I walk out there and I mean, I'm on fire, man. I mean, it's just like Tennessee won the national championship,

I'm sorry. And I walk out there and she went, isn't it cold in here?

I don't like it when it's cold. And I almost lost all my pastor's juice and punched her dead in the teeth, you know?

Just negative, just, ugh, can't stand it. But you know, negatives are not inherently bad.

In fact, we could get philosophical in here and talk about what is good, what is bad, but in the context of Scripture, negative is negative and positive is positive in its absolutes.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that the negatives are not beneficial to the people of God.

And I want to go over five negatives today out of Hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 -18.

Five negatives that are really stinking good. Five negatives that are really, really good.

Read with me here, Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10 starting in verse 1.

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of those realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near.

Otherwise, would that not have ceased to be offered since the worshipers have once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sin.

But in these sacrifice, there is a remainder of sins every year.

It can never. It can never. Now, what are we talking about here?

We're talking about the law. How many of you judge your salvation based upon how well you keep the law of God?

How many of you do it? Some of y 'all are liars in here are dumb. I don't know. Yeah, that's a problem.

Listen to me. I know everybody just said, no, that's a problem. See, if you try to judge where you're at with God by how well you show up on a

Sunday morning, some of y 'all are looking at me like I'm crazy. Hang with me, it's okay. Pastor hadn't lost his mind yet.

If you experience the joy of the Lord or you're seeking the peace of God, and that is directly correlated to you keeping the law of God, you are going to be a big fat stupid loser 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You are. I don't know about you, but I tried that one time as a pastor, and I ended up having a mental breakdown and going for about three weeks.

Because let me let you in on a secret. You will never, ever, ever keep the law of God.

It's not going to happen. Then God, why did you give it to us? To show us the need of something greater.

You see, the law was but a shadow of things to come. Understand this, that when

Jesus, the law came first, Jesus was behind it. And we could see by the power of the eminent light of Christ, the shadow of what the law cast on us.

And we were absolutely incapable of keeping it. But praise God, in this new covenant,

Christ has circumvented the law. He had kept the law, defeated the law, and he upheld the law so that vicariously we could be justified, wait for it, by the blood of Christ.

Your spiritual strength is by faith in Christ. Now, obedience to God, obedience to his word, is an effect of the causality of your conversion, but it's never where you're going to find peace.

How many of y 'all ever felt like you've lost your salvation? Raise your hand. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah.

You're judging yourself based upon the inadequacies that God already knew you had when he sent his son to die at Calvary.

I cannot live by that kind of perfection. You see, you're letting the negativity that's meant for a positive for you, walk away for you to try to live a perfect life that you're never going to be able to live.

What is the doctrine of sanctification? You're not in Bellevue, let's try that again.

What is the doctrine of sanctification? To be set apart. We were sanctified.

When were we set apart? Before the world began. Before you could do right or wrong.

Before you had a choice to not have tattoos, to not smoke, to go to church every

Sunday, to wear a suit and tie. Before you had to make all those choices, God chose you.

You see, Romans tells us that Christ died for us and that while we were what?

Still sinners. But you're trying to uphold the law rather than live by faith.

And that is a miserable place to be. You'll end up in one of two places. You'll be that old curmudgeon who is angry at everybody and negative about everything.

You'll be one of those judgmental people. You'll be so wrapped up in whether it's okay to have a carpet in the sanctuary.

Whether it's okay to all drink out of different cups on communion or by God, we all gotta have one because that's what

Jesus did. I always ask people, do you wear sandals, a toga, and don't have air conditioning in your house?

Well, Jesus didn't, right? You see, you try to feel a certain way rather than have faith.

Guys, you're gonna be a weak Christian for the rest of your life because you're going by feelings of your accomplishment rather than the finished work of Jesus Christ.

See, guys, negatives sometimes can be good.

Listen to this, number two, starting in verse four. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.

Then he added, behold, now he's quoting Psalms here. Behold, I have come to do your will.

He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that, we'll have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ as long as you are perfect in every way.

I'm sorry, I was reading in the Greek. I'm sorry, I misread it. Body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest, notice the sarcasm. It's okay. Notice the sarcasm.

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifice which can never take away sin.

Impossible and never are very, very strong words.

Now, I want you to note something, and this is important. Where it says the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin,

I want you to understand is that is not limiting the will and the sovereignty of God, it is limiting the effectiveness of creation.

Ladies and gentlemen, that which is created will never have superiority over something that is created.

In other words, all things created are subordinate to that of the creator.

This is why I love talking to atheists. And if you're one of those keyboard warrior atheists, you know, and in your family, you're the black sheep and the non -Christian, and you can argue with everybody because you know the

Bible real well. Do me a favor. Do me a favor. First of all, you're an idiot.

Number two, you're not as smart as you think you are because you're believing in lies, and by default, you're dumb.

But number three, I have $1 ,000 in cash, in cash that I will hand to you if you can prove your point.

And I'll give you all day. And it's not because I'm smart. It's because I'm relying something other than the brain matter and the philosophical deceit that our culture is feeding your little brains.

Go to your college and spend $50 ,000 on lesbian poetry of medieval times.

And then wonder why you can't get a job. The reason why you idiot is because you're listening to the wisdom and intelligence of this world.

Romans 1 .22 says this, professing themselves to be wise, man became.

Mm -hm, you fish eye fool. Some of y 'all didn't grow up in the great time of TV, Sanford and Son, Aunt Esther, but great philosopher of our time, to be sure.

Number three, just keep reading with me in verse five. Consequently, when

Christ came into the world, if he came into the world by default in logic and implication of the verse, that means he had to pre -exist.

Things that make you go, hm. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me.

In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold,

I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scrolls of the book.

When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifice, offerings, burnt offerings, and sin offerings.

Now, guys, this is a little bit convoluted. If you've sat in a Baptist church your whole life, nodded your head, put your tithe in the offering plate and left.

In other words, you still have the spiritual maturity of a one -year -old. Well, I've been,

I have my letter at this church for 30 years. Do us all a favor, take you, your letter, and go on.

Seriously, I ain't joking. I don't need you around all these young Christians we got. I need them to see what a real, maturing, growing believer in Christ is, okay?

And it's not a Republican, it's not a Democrat, it's not someone who doesn't do this or doesn't do this.

You wanna know what I know a true, maturing believer is? It's not what they're against, it's what's they're for. It's not what they don't do, it's what they do do.

See, see, cuz apathy whips us all sometimes, don't it?

But a person who is so dedicated to Christ, the thing that they sacrifice, the things that are most dear, your time, and your treasures, your heart.

You ain't worried about it. But back to this. What is this passage saying? Once again, taking from Psalms, it's talking,

Jesus is sitting here talking, and I want you to pull away. Notice that all four, all four of the

Hebraic offerings are mentioned. All four of them, all four of them.

And I'm not gonna go into depth on all four of those now. But they're all mentioned. And how did

God see those? Is God pleased with your worship this morning?

Once again, I know we on the struggle bus with talent. Was God pleased with our worship today?

I know what would please God more. Let's get one of them smoke machines, you know?

Let's be like the metro sexual, you know, let's all run around and jump up and down and wave our coats and fall out on the ground.

Personally, if you're one of them kind of folk, listen to me. Listen to me. Your faith is a mile wide and an inch deep.

You got a great show, but you ain't got no death. What does God say about all of our sacrifices in our worship?

He takes no delight in them. Pastor, we have a piano and drums, man.

We got a guitar, or we don't have that, or we have this, or we need new songs, or we need this, or we need...

What you need is a humble and contrite heart to God because God inhabits the praise of his humble people who are repentants, who the last time that you were at the altar was 19 -something.

I always love when I hear mature Christians speak, and one of the questions I ask them is when they can't figure out why

I'm not feeling close to God, when's the last time you were at the altar publicly repenting?

Well, I walked down the aisle and accepted Jesus Christ, my heart, and the Lord and Savior. I praise

God, even though that's not found in Scripture. That's what I was told to do. Has anything changed in your life?

No, not really. You ain't saved. We preach this here all the time, and some of y 'all still don't get it because I know you.

You think attending a church steadfastly is going to get you into heaven, and the shock value of the words, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew you, it is the elegance of you that's going to be shocked.

And it's the same arrogance that's bringing you to hell right now. I walked down an aisle,

I got baptized, I did this, I did this. If you notice, you are the centricity of all of that which saves.

Which is the problem. Religion, don't care what you call it, it's all stupid, including

Baptist. God don't have a checklist in heaven going, were they charismatic or Baptist?

What He has is the Lamb's Book of Life. And the

Word of God says, unless your name is written in that Lamb's Book of Life, you will not inherit the

Kingdom of Heaven. Well, how do I get my name in there? Well, I'm going to tell you right now, worshipping in church, don't cut it.

You see, you're looking for a causality when that is an effect. Okay, for Arkansas people, let me get this a little bit clearer.

Me obeying God, me worshipping in truth, me doing what

God asked me to do are all effects of a changed life.

Those are effects. What people try to do and what religion tries to do is put the effects in front of the causality, which is the same thing

Satan has tried to do for about 6 ,000 years. Because there's got to be something other than God, or he'll get all the glory.

There's got to be something other than the atoning blood of Jesus. When God said, that's all

I need. You sit there, and you don't understand

Scriptures, because it's never been real to you. Negatives can be some stinking positives.

Look at this. It says, those, let me keep reading. Let's go to the contrast.

Remember, God loves big butts. Verse 12. Verse 12.

Verse 12. What's the first word? And what have you learned hermeneutically when you see that word?

That's right. Butt. But God commended his love towards us, and then we're, oh, moon.

Well, if you see the butt, go before it, right? For there is therefore now no continent.

Go before it. It's a comparison and contrast. So we've read one. Now we get to verse 12, and it says, butt.

When Christ and the preachers had, oh, I'm sorry. But when Christ and the

Baptist, no. When Christ and your good work, no. When Christ and your attendant, no.

When Christ and your type, no. Christ stands alone. But when

Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sin, he sat down at the right hand of God.

Yesterday was Saturday. I usually get four days off a month.

Four days off. Let me rephrase. I'm supposed to get four days off a month. I usually only get two.

Because somebody will call me, and, you know, I gotta go. Thursday, Thursday, I get home, and I have to do my chores.

Ms. Gwynne gives me chores. Y 'all lying. I am not joking.

I had... Be silent, woman. I had to wash the sheets on our bed.

I had to scrub them toilets. I mean, I'm talking about scrub, not just pour the stuff in there and swirl it around.

I had to scrub. Because she inspects it. I had to clean the countertops and the dust.

The labor was intensive. Saturday, Saturday, my wife,

I love her so much, made me an eye doctor appointment at nine o 'clock on a

Saturday morning. Ladies, a little marriage advice.

If your husband has time off, that's not a clue for you to find something for him to do.

Mm, mm, mm, mm. So Saturday, after I went to the doctor's appointment, after the horrendous work schedule that I had,

I started to do this. Let's see. Memphis is coming on at 2 .30. God's team,

UT Vols coming on 6 .30. Ooh, here we go. Oh, and my chair was right here. Ooh, and I mean, my jeans just brushed the fabric.

And Gwen said, are you going to do the yard? Yes, baby,

I'm going to do the yard. And so as I walked out to the front yard,

I got my edger out because she likes a clean line. And I edged everything, mowed everything, weeded everything.

And she helps. She helps. I have to start the blower because she can't start it, but then she does this.

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. And it's funny. The same leaf, I will watch blow back and forth and not move.

But that's OK. She's helping, kind of like Ava would. So I did all that.

I am glistening testosterone. I go back in the house.

I get me a glass of ice cold lime water because I'm still trying to pass this kidney stone.

And I do this. And I hit that chair. I was there.

I know once I make it to my chair, she'll look at me and say, Ken. And I will go, be silent in the name of the Lord. Get up out of here.

Go make me turkey pie pie. Get out of here. Go to the kitchen. I sat down.

You know why I sat down? The work was done.

Let's read again, shall we? When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins,

He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet.

Well, what would Jesus do? He's going to make His enemies a footstool for His feet, right?

It says this. And for a single offering, notice a theme here,

He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Now, once again, for those of you that have grown up in a Baptist church and you're still as ignorant about the

Word of God as you were 30 years ago, although you've memorized Scripture, look at the verb tenses and look at the logic of that verse.

Watch what it says again. It says, for by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Perfected all time those who are being. Now, I only got through the 11th grade.

Okay? I'm going to try. What is our being? Look, the grammar

Nazis over here. That's a progressive. All I need is past, present, and future. That's a progressive.

It's present tense. Mississippi folk, present means now.

Okay? Now, how can it be justified that's what tense? Say it together with me.

Right? Past tense coinciding with perfection in the present tense.

It's funny. Most of the people in this building did not grow up in church. Most of the people in this building, this is your first real church experience.

So I give you a pass. You other people that were in RAs, camperees, that went in Sunday school and had a little gold star and made the little stupid pictures for your mama to hang on the mirror or the refrigerator and just let you know, yes, they were ugly and everyone hated them, but she loved you.

It is. They send them to Gwen. I make her put them on the other side because I like clean on my refrigerator.

But anyways, here's what that means. Wait a minute, Baptist. Want faith, always faith.

Can you prove that? No, but my preacher, who cares what your preacher says? Who cares what you believe?

Ain't nobody care what your church teaches. Because there's 9 ,400 of them that teach something different.

What does this say? You know why I can sleep good at night? You know why even in my failures,

I still have the ability to come boldly before the throne of God? It's not what

I have failed to do or what I am doing. It's what Jesus Christ has perfected, justifying me in the past, sanctifying me now, and praise

God will glorify me in the future. That ain't religion.

That ain't theology. That's the Word of the living God. Oh, but pastor, you know,

I heard the jet go over my house last night, and I was like, oh dear Lord, I feel like I'm going to get left behind.

Quit reading Jerry Jenkins and start reading the Word of God. Oh, but pastor, my old preacher told me, my mama was rubbing my head as I was sitting in the pew, and he said, if anybody wants to be saved, come on down right here and I'll save you.

Man, man, can't save Jack. Can't save Jack. Same Spirit of God's in me. Same Spirit of God's in you.

I ain't got nothing special. I can't do nothing for you but show you where to find grace. Where you at this morning?

Have you been justified? It's always past tense, and it's either or. Well, on youth camp,

I invite Jesus in my heart. You idiot. Do you really think something not found in Scripture, based in your religious upbringing, is going to save you?

Well, I took the Eucharist. So did I. And I was smoking crack cocaine like it was going out of style.

Well, forget what religion has taught you. Because it's going to send you to hell.

But what's worse than that, you're never going to have peace.

And that stinks for you. I do 30 -something council appointments every week.

We now have six ministers and pastors that we counsel who went to seminary, and who are destroyed because they keep looking at the implaud of men and the affirmation of Christian culture for success and peace.

Some of you codependent little losers in here are depending upon that significant other to give you peace.

That's why some of you women be crazy, always angry at your man and men. That's why some of you are stupid and play on your phone and ignore your wife.

Because it don't work. And you just quit and give up. May I say this to you?

The one man who has offered one sacrifice for all sin.

Wait a minute. For all time is calling you to repentance.

And repentance is not a dirty word. Take the word repentance and put the word hope, because both of them walk hand in hand.

For you this morning that are tired of religion and exhausted, and you don't know what to do anymore, what to believe.

Can I tell you, if you'll just let go of all the religious crap and put your hope through repentance in Jesus Christ.

Well, pastor, I don't know what repentance is. Well, that's why God made fat, bald pastors. I'm not one, but I stand in as one.

I'm kind of svelte to be honest with you. Guys, repentance is this.

I can do two actions with one. I can have two effects with one causality.

I am now walking. Let's see. I am now walking right, right?

Now watch. I'm now going to walk left. By default, I did two things. I ceased walking right and started walking left.

That's what repentance is. It's not turning from your sins. That's the after effect.

The initial is turning to God. Then all these things will be added unto you.

Last thing and I'm done. There is verse 18.

Read it with me. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

I'm going to be honest with you for a second. Hi, my name is

Jeff. Hi. No one said you're glad you're here. God, y 'all.

I'm quitting and leaving and going back to the bottle. I sometimes, now

I'm a licensed, ordained, senior pastor.

I mean, we have four other lesser pastors here, but I'm the senior pastor.

Heretic. I don't feel like a

Christian. I always love the awkwardness in public speaking.

I just feed off of it, you know. I don't sometimes. You ever been on a motorcycle with your wife going down Germantown Road in traffic on a

Saturday when you just want to sit down? But no, she wanted to go to Lolly's store and look at girl stuff? Don't feel like a

Christian. Lolly's store is awesome. Don't get me wrong.

But it's a girl's store. You know, shotgun. No, I ain't got it. I do have some camouflage stuff in there and it smells really good.

And Lolly's really cool. And whatever her husband's name is. But I don't want to do that.

And I'm driving down Germantown Road. Dude cut right in front of me on my bike.

In my mind, I said, Dear Lord, bless this individual.

Nah, man. I had visions. And if I need to get some help with this,

I will. I had a vision of pulling up beside him and taking my boot and just bashing his door in so he'll pull over and I can break the window, pull him out and just beat him until his head sounded hollow.

Y 'all ever had them feelings? Okay, good. I was getting worried there for a minute because people are like,

Really? I mean, you know, I swallow a lot of Gresham along with a lot of pizza.

But I felt that way. I felt that way.

That's right, my girl. Do you ever feel like you've out sinned in the grace of God? Me too.

Do you ever feel like God's kind of done with you? You've reached that place where you've just hit big, fat, stupid loser and God's just like,

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

You know why it says that? Because Jesus came one time. And it's not

Jesus plus, plus, plus. You see, it says right here, once God forgives, that's it.

When I became a Christian, let me do the Baptist testimony.

Well, I was into drugs and I was a sinner. I was smooching on a farm animal.

Oh, certainly told that one. I was doing bad things. Oh, but I saw that light and I walked down that aisle and I got saved and blah, blah, blah.

Have you ever noticed when people give their testimony, it's always like ten years ago? What about yesterday?

You know? What about this morning? Right? Did your relationship with Jesus stop when you asked

Jesus to crash your heart and Lord and Savior? You see, what's happened is you think

God forgave you for the sins from that prayer of backers. That ain't

Scripture. Scripture says He came one time for how many sins?

I forget. All. In the Greek, it says all.

Pastor, the word is pas. All sin.

All sin. Guys, I'm free. I choose to live in that freedom.

And that freedom gives me the power to shun sin and turn towards God. How powerful is it?

It's this powerful. Verse 9. The will of God.

Verse 12. By the work of Christ. Verse 15.

By the witness of the Holy Spirit. The triune nature of God, evident on every page of the

Bible, has been working since before time began to make sure that my soul is paid for, redeemed, atoned for, sanctified, justified, and one day, praise

God, be home and glorified. And if that ain't where you're at, if you've never experienced what

I'm talking about, let me help you out. I am not interested in your stupid money.

Don't care about it. I ain't caring about growing a bigger church. This is all the people

I can handle at this time, okay? A couple more won't hurt. It'll help if you have hunting land.

But I ain't interested in that. I don't care if I ever see you again, okay?

And I know that sounds weird, but there's nothing you have that I want or need. I got a motorcycle, a wife, five kids part -time.

I never see my grandkids, but... I get everything

I want or need. Here's what I'm offering you. Just listen. Hunter, come do your thing.

Here's what I'm offering you. I'm trying to give you the peace that I found through the Holy Scripture.

If you don't know that peace, don't come up to me and expect me to put my hand on your head and go, somebody stole my

Honda, and you're like, oh, I'm falling. I don't do that. I didn't get in line long enough to get that power, okay?

But I can show you, I can show you this where it says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing the

Word of God. That if any man come unto me, I will know why it's cast out. For if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all have become new. That's what I'm offering you today. I'm going to ask you to stand with me.