"The Final Sacrifice" Hebrews 10:1-18 Ps 40:6-8
Have you been confessing your sins more often since we started working through Hebrews?
I hope so.
Have you been forgiving those who have sinned against you?
I hope so.
As we wrap up our focused study on what God has done for the forgiveness of our sins,
I hope that these principles continue to dwell in your hearts and lives.
And don't worry.
Every week, as we confess our sins together, and as we hear God's assurance of pardon,
we are reminded of what it means to repent and forgive.
Our passage brings to completion all the themes that we have been exploring in the last few weeks.
The better priesthood, the better covenant, the better sacrifice.
You may have heard echoes of previous chapters-
Chapter 7 expounded the better priesthood, quoting Psalm 110;
We hear echoes of Psalm 110 in verse 12-13:
"Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool"
Chapter 8 expounded the better covenant, with a lengthy quotation from Jeremiah 31.
We hear echoes of Jeremiah 31 in verses 16-17.
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days..."
Chapter 9 expounded the better sacrifice,
by explaining the meaning of the holy place and the regulations for worship;
We hear echoes of this in the continuing discussion of the earthly priesthood.
But as this passage wraps up the central exposition of Hebrews,
it also begins to move us towards the point of this exposition:
the exhortation of 10:19-39.
We've been looking a lot at the objective work of Christ.
Now we are turning to see how Christ's work in accomplishing our redemption
is applied to us.
There are four paragraphs in our passage,
the last three of which emphasizes the finality of Christ's work-
the very thing that the first paragraph says the law could not do.
1. The Law Cannot Make You Perfect (10:1-4)
Are you perfect?
What does "perfection" mean?
When you hear the word "perfect" you instantly think of "moral perfection."
That is NOT what "perfect" means in Hebrews.
Remember 7:28.
Jesus-the Son of God, has been made perfect forever.
That implies that he was not always perfect.
What does this mean?
Remember the context: how was Jesus "imperfect"?
He was not yet a faithful and merciful high priest!
As 2:10 says,
"For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist,
in bringing many sons to glory,
should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering."
So you see, the question is not one of moral perfection.
Hebrews also makes it perfectly clear that Jesus was sinless:
4:15-"one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."
So Jesus was morally perfect.
But when Hebrews talks about being "perfect" he is not talking about moral perfection.
He is talking about being complete or finished-
perhaps even, "mature" would be a good word to use.
After all, the central theme of Hebrews is that the Son is the high priest,
and in Jesus, the Son of God has matured and entered into his inheritance.
So the point is that the law could not bring Israel to maturity.
It could not make Israel grow up.
All the sacrifices did was serve as shadows and pointers to Christ.
The sacrifices themselves reminded Israel that they were incomplete, immature,
because sin had not been finally dealt with.
And so long as their sins held them down, they could not enter their true inheritance-
that glorious fellowship with God that had been promised to Abraham.
How do we know that the law could not make sinners perfect?
For the simple reason that the sacrifices are "continually offered."
If the blood of bulls and goats could deal finally with sin,
then you wouldn't need to keep offering sacrifices.
The OT sacrifices were but shadows of the coming "good things"--
shadows of Christ's own sacrifice.
Further, verse 2 points out that the worshipers themselves
demonstrated the futility of the Mosaic sacrifices,
because they would have been decisively cleansed by a once-for-all sacrifice,
but by virtue of the fact that Israel kept coming back, year after year,
we can see that they did not believe that they had been decisively cleansed.
The OT sacrifices were sacraments-
signs pointing to the real thing-the sacrifice of Christ,
and drawing their power from that once-for-all sacrifice.
But in and by themselves, the OT sacrifices could no nothing to remove sin.
2. But the Offering of the Body of Jesus Sanctifies Us Once for All (10:5-10)
If the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins,
what can take away my sin?
Verses 5-10 answer this question.
When Jesus, the Messiah, came into the world he sings Psalm 40,
just as we did earlier.
In Psalm 40 David praises God for raising him out of the miry clay-out of destruction's pit-
and calls on God to deliver him from all his troubles.
It is a Psalm of the cross-and a Psalm of the resurrection.
And Hebrews tells us that it is a Psalm that Jesus sang.
But when Jesus sang it, it gained new meaning.
Or, better, it attained to the purpose for which God had inspired it!
(Read verses 5-7)
One translation note:
the Hebrew text says, "sacrifice and offering you did not seek,
but ears you have dug for me"
the LXX (the Greek translation) replaces "ears" with "body."
Hebrews follows the LXX, seeing that God did not only give his anointed one ears,
but a whole body (how do you have ears, if you don't have a whole body!)
The point being that the Anointed One not only listens to God,
and does his will,
but his own body is the sacrifice that removes sins.
The Son must be made like his brethren in every respect-except sin.
The OT sacrifices did not create a desire to do the will of God.
That was the point of Jeremiah 31-the reason why there must be a new covenant.
The old covenant could not remove sin, and it did not change the heart.
And so Hebrews explains Jesus' singing of Psalm 40 as follows:
(Read 10:8-9)
The Jews had been singing Psalm 40 for centuries,
but when Jesus sang it, it gained new meaning!
When Jesus sang it, it had the effect of abolishing the old covenant!
Why?
Because that was the point of Psalm 40!
What God desires is not a never-ending cycle of sacrifices!
What God desires is one who will do his will.
But no one had arisen in all of Israel's history who would truly do God's will,
because God's will was that the Son of God would offer himself
as the once-for-all sacrifice that would remove his people's sins.
Jesus came as the one who had come to do God's will-
not just in living a morally perfect life!
but to offer himself as the final sacrifice.
And so it was by the will of God that we have been sanctified
by the once-for-all offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Do you see, then what it means to be sanctified?
The problem with the old covenant was the worshiper was still conscious of sin-
he knew that the continual sacrifices meant that sin was still a problem.
What it means to be sanctified through the once-for-all offering of the body of Jesus,
is that we are no longer conscious of sin!
"Okay, pastor, what have you been smoking?!
We're all conscious of sin!"
You are?
Haven't you confessed your sins?
Didn't you hear God's promise that he is faithful and just to forgive your sins,
and cleanse you from all unrighteousness?
Isn't this what your baptism reminds you of?
that your sins are washed away!
Why are you still conscious of something that isn't there anymore?
Yes, we all still sin.
I know all too well that I do.
But we should not be conscious of sin-
there should not be a single sin left on our conscience-
unless, of course, you are harboring one.
If there is a sin that you will not repent of-
if there are sins that you delight in-
then you have a different sort of problem
(For a sneak peak, look at verse 26).
If you see these sorts of sins in your life,
talk with me-talk with one of the elders-talk with a respected Christian friend.
For we died to sin-how can we live any longer therein? (Rom 6)
Yes, we still sin.
But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Our sanctification means that we have definitively broken with that old life,
the dominion of sin and death has been decisively broken,
and you are no longer a slave.
Believer in Jesus Christ, you are free from the guilt and the power of sin!
I say that every week, and I hope that it is sinking in!
3. His Offering Has Perfected Those Who Are Being Sanctified (10:11-14)
Our third paragraph contrasts the everlasting futility of the earthly sacrifices
with the everlasting power of Christ's single sacrifice.
Here we have the echo of Psalm 110-
"Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool"
Christ is the priest after the order of Melchizedek,
that unique priest who offers a unique sacrifice that finally accomplishes God's purposes.
The contrast is seen even in the posture of the priests.
The earthly priests "stand daily at his service"
but this priest sat down at the right hand of God!
Jesus has no need to stay standing.
He has finished his work, and so sits at the right hand of the Father.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Notice how verse 10 said that you "have been sanctified."
There is that definitive break with sin and guilt that we call "definitive sanctification."
But there is also a progressive sanctification,
as the once-for-all break with sin becomes more and more visible in our lives.
But here the definitive work is called "perfection."
By his single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
You are perfect!
Remember that "perfect" in the vocabulary of Hebrews, does not mean "morally perfect."
It never means "sinless" in Hebrews.
So what does it mean that we have been "perfected"?
We have been brought to maturity-completeness.
The Son of God has reached maturity (perfection) and has entered his inheritance.
Therefore, all who are in Christ, have been matured or perfected in him.
4. So if Your Sins are Forgiven, then There Are No More Offerings
Hebrews completes his central exposition by reminding us of Jeremiah 31 again.
This is what the Holy Spirit tells us about the new covenant:
(Read verse 16)
And after this, then he says,
(Read verse 17)
What was the problem with the old covenant?
God remembered their sins.
What is the promise of the new covenant?
God will no longer remember our sins.
It is not that God suddenly became forgetful,
rather he will not hold our sins against us.
When he thinks of those who are united to his Son,
he does not think of their sins.
So where there is true and final forgiveness of sins,
there is no longer any offering for sin.
Once your sins are forgiven, you don't need a sacrifice.
The Day of Atonement in the OT was a constant reminder of sin.
Christ's sacrifice is a constant reminder of the forgiveness of sin!
If God has forgotten your sins,
why do you still remember them?
Why do you act as though God still holds them against you?
It is because you are still holding on to some last remnant of works-righteousness.
You are still thinking that "if only I was good enough..."
"If only I was better at doing God's will, then he would be pleased with me!"
Did you hear what God's will was?
God's will was that his son offer a once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of his people.
Sorry.
It's too late to be good enough!
(And something tells me that you wouldn't make a very good "sinless sacrifice!")
Yes, I realize the irony of what I'm doing.
I'm trying to make you feel guilty for feeling guilty!
There is no reason in heaven or on earth for feeling guilty!
If you are guilty, then repent!
If you have repented, then you have been forgiven,
and you are not guilty anymore!
Jesus sacrifice pays the price.
His blood covers your sins.
He took your guilt upon himself.
Which means, it's not yours anymore, so you can't have it!
And as we'll see next week,
if you have been forgiven, and your guilt is removed,
then stop sinning deliberately!
But this is only something you can do if you joyfully accept the new reality that is yours in Christ-
that your sin and guilt have been truly and fully removed.