Perfect sacrifice Heb 10 11_10_06 Mentor Baptist
Introduction
As we come this morning to worship the Triune God. it would be well for us to consider just who that God is and what He has done for us .
First of all, we worship a Triune God, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit
The god of the Muslim and the God of the Christian are not the same God!
Allah and God are not the same.
The God who is the Creator and sustainer of all that exists.
He is the Omnicient God who knew that sin would enter His creation and loves His people so much that he set forth a plan to redeem His people from the very beginning
We worship Yehweh of the Bible who is the Triune God, Father, Son & Holy Spirit
The Scriptures reveals the very character of God to man.
When Adam & eve sinned, God promised that One of Eve’s offspring would come to conquer Satan
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
The Bible then reveals His plan to Man through the Scriptures and does so through what theologians call
Progressive Revelation
God begins to draw a people to Himself with the calling of Abraham which continues throughout the Old Testament.
When His people are in slavery He saves them out of Egypt and gives His people His Rules and Laws that are to be obeyed.
When God gave the Israelites His righteous requirements in which include the Ten Commandments,
Exod 24:3 reads, “When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do."
God Continues to Reveal Himself
After giving the ten Commandments, God’s glory appears to the Israelites on the Mountain, the one thing the people realized was that He is a Holy, separate, perfect God and an unapproachable God who is to be Feared.
Though the People said that they would obey all that God commanded, they were not able to do so.
The question then became, how can a Holy and Perfect God be in the presence of an unholy and imperfect people?
God gave his people the Law after the night Passover had occurred when God saved by substitution
After they had crossed the Red Sea and Pharaoh had been conquered.
The Law was given to God’s people who had already been saved.
The law was given, not as a means to achieve salvation, but as God’s righteous requirements for those who are already in his kingdom.
Not surprised by the Israelites inability to keep His law, God, in His grace, made provision for His people by instituting the sacrificial system.
CAT: understand that
The Imperfect Sacrifices give way to the Perfect sacrifice which was accomplished through the
Perfect Obedience of the
Perfect substitute.
A. The Imperfect Sacrifice
B. The Perfect Sacrifice
C. Perfect Obedience
D. Perfect Substitute
Heb 10:1-4 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. 2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
A. The Imperfect Sacrifice
Though the The OT Sacrificial system specifically prescribed, in detail, the many different sacrifices for the many different sins of the people, the day of Atonement in Lev 16 is the yearly sacrifice that was designated for the whole people of God.
All types of sin, even the unknown sin, was given specific provision in the sacrificial system given by God to Moses.
The reading of the Pentateuch demonstrates God’s specificity.
As an example, Lev 16 – Scapegoat.
The day of Atonement in Lev 16 and the scapegoat was a ceremony of transference whereby the sin of the guilty were passed to the head of the innocent.
With this as background, we come to this evening’s verses in Hebrews 10.
What we discover is that rather than the day of Atonement taking care of sins it was An Annual Reminder Of Sins! (3)
(2) Repetition of the sacrifices spoke of inadequacy.
The blood of bulls & goats was insufficient.
Rather than a reminder of forgiveness, the repetitive sacrifices were a reminder of their inadequacy.
Rather than relieving the conscience, the repetition actually increased the burden on the sensitive heart, making them aware of the insufficiency and inability for the sacrifices to clear the conscience.
Eg Luther and his Confessor
The OT sacrifices not only could not remove sin, but their constant repetition was a constant reminder of that deficiency.
But the promise of the New Covenant in Jer 31:34 quoted in ve 8-12 is that the sin would be removed and even God would “remember” their sins “no more” (8:12, quoting Jer. 31:34).
Jer 31:34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
The Imperfect Sacrifice gives way to the Perfect Sacrifice
B. The Perfect Sacrifice
The Hebrew writer makes it clear that
God was never please with Mens’ sacrifices, though the law required them (8)
God has always desired Faith.. not ritual
Relationship… not performance
Kent Hughes says this,
“Though God instituted blood animal sacrifices ( ex24) he had never been pleased with them and did not see them as ends.
He had established them as object lessons to instruct His people about:
The sinfulness of their hearts
His hatred of sin
That sin leads to death
The need for atonement.
What he did find pleasure in was those who offered a sacrifice with a contrite, obedient heart
He then quotes Psalm 40
"Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering 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.’ ”" (Hebrews 10:5-7, NIV)
These are Christ’s Preincarnate words, spoken by David 1000 years earlier.
“Our preincarnate savior quoted Psalm 40 as being prophetic of his thoughts at His human birth.
In essence, Jesus is saying,
‘My Father, the OT sacrifices have proven unsatisfactory so you have prepared a body for me, that I might be a pleasing sacrifice.
OT Sacrifices Could Foreshadow,
But They Could Not Accomplish.
But Jesus comes and says with perfect obedience, “Here I Am”
i. Perfect Obedience
Here I Am
Christ came to do what could never have been done previously.
The sacrifice of Christ was commensurate with divine dignity.
A person is needed to substitute for people.
“I have come to do your will” – think of beast – it cannot do this.
The ultimate citadel of sin is the consenting will.
Beasts could shed atoning blood, but it had no will to represent the sinful will of the sinner.
We have here Christ’s determination to OBEY the Father!
In Diety Himself
– the Joy of Obedience!
Heb 12:2 For the Joy set before Him, He came to Die
Whole Hearted obedience is the sacrifice that God really desires. (FF.Bruce)
Through the continuing celebration of Passover and the institution of the Sacrificial System, the Israelites knew that God Saves by Substitution
In the Lord Jesus, for the first time and perfectly for the only time, the means of substitution was established.
ii. Perfect Substitute
Heb 10:11-14
11 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.
12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool,
14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Jesus has done all in relation to us.
“made perfect forever”
– perfect tense – done!!
This is the real truth about us. (Eph. 2: 5-6) – we are already in heaven.
The Calvary quadrilateral:
Dealt with sin
Satisfied God forever
Defeated Satan’s power
Established a sanctified and holy people
Two points of completeness
-Sin has been forever dealt with
- God has been forever satisfied
2 Not Yet Points
- the enemy is defeated but has not submitted
- Though we are sanctified we’re being sanctified
è We fight against the tattered remnant of Satan’s forces.
The ultimate citadel of sin is the consenting will.
The believer’s situation is that the evil one has no hold on us.
The Lord Jesus has done everything necessary to nullify Satan’s ability to influence the saints.
The full accomplishment of the will of God the Father (vs. 10)
All that God wants has been accomplished.
All that we need has been accomplished.
“We are those who have been sanctified.” Set apart and made holy and all through the perfection of Jesus.
è Jesus has done ALL in relation to sin. He Sits
Not to sit down is the sign that you still have work to do.
There were no charis in the tabernackle
No provisions to sit down.
è Jesus has done ALL in relation to God – it is to sit down in acceptance.
Until God is satisfied, there can be no salvation.
Here is the issue:
God is a sin-hating God and therefore we are in need of salvation.
It is the satisfaction of His wrath that is the driving factor
– not our predicament!!
If God were complacent about sin, then we would be in no need of salvation.
è Jesus has done ALL in relation to Satan
Contented by waiting for the inevitable submission of a defeated foe. Hebrews 2:14-15
Flesh and blood
è a nature shared – children
è a power broken – bringing to naught the devil
Broken the power of Satan as to effectiveness, but not wiped it out as to experience.
Results in the Believer
1. “We have been made holy”
Jesus’ sacrifice is “once for all” – final
The Results of His sacrifice are equally final
The Greek is “ an enduing, continuous state” – perfect tense
Our salvation is a completed thing – a Done Deal
2. We are Forgiven:
The conscience is cleared. (FF Bruce p227)
If the Old system had been able to cleanse the conscience, then worshippers would have enjoyed unrestricted communion with God
It is the presence of sin in the conscience that hinders such communion
Ps 66:18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
The Holy Spirit in the words of scripture comes to apply the reality of the finished work of Christ.
è He bears witness to what is true concerning us
è We’ve been changed inwardly – new heart – the same shape as the law of God
è He bears witness to what is now true concerning God. vs. 17
Our sins and lawlessness are no longer held against us.
“You do surprise me. I can’t remember anything about that at all” – blotted out!
(Depth of sea) No need for further sacrifice. No contingency plan – Christ’s blood covers it all.
Thou art Christ
Are all I want
More than all in Thee I find
The only response to a finished work is to accept it and to rest upon it.
Notes from Mac Arthur
By His own sacrificial work on the cross, Jesus Christ sanctifies those who believe in Him.
He sets them apart (the root meaning of hagiazō) for Himself, cleanses them, and perfects them.
God provides holiness through His Son. Man’s part is to claim holiness, to claim sainthood, by faith in the Son (Acts 26:18).
We have a new nature, the divine nature, and have escaped the corruptions of the world, possessing all things related to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3–4).
Paul’s declaring all the Corinthian believers to be saints was quite a declaration in light of the things—very evident from the rest of this letter—that characterized their living. The Corinthian church was far from being saintly in the sense in which the term is often used.
They were particularly worldly and immoral, yet in his opening words Paul stressed that every one of them who had truly believed in Jesus Christ was saved and was a saint.
Not only are all saints saved, but all the saved are saints
Every believer has the right to call himself a saint.
None of us is worthy of the title, but God has declared us to be saints because of our trust in His Son.
Our practice, our behavior in our humanness, needs to be conformed to our “saintly” new divine nature.
Corrie Ten Boom
Born in Holland in 1892
During WWII
- sister Betsie
- German concentration camp at Ravensbruck for the crime of hiding persecuted Jews.
-survived: wrote ”The hiding Place”
- traveled after the war speaking and working for forgiveness and reconciliation between former enemies
The story that follows took place during one such trip to Munich 2 years after the war ended:
Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea,
A great High priest
whose name is “Love,”
who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heav’n He stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart,
When Satan tempts me
to despair and tells me of
the guilt within,
upward I look and see Him there,
who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
my sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me,
To look on Him and pardon me.
Behold Him there, the Risen Lamb,
my perfect, spotless Righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the King of glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die,
my soul is purchased by His blood;
My life is hid with Christ on high,
with Christ, my Savior and my God,