That's Perfect Series

Title: The Bloodline of a Champion – 8

“That’s Perfect!”

Text: Hebrews 10:14

Let’s read this same text from a couple different translations:

The Laubach Version: “So with that one sacrifice He made us holy and brought us into perfect union with God.”

Barclay: “For by one sacrifice, valid forever, he enabled men to enter into perfect communion with God.”

The word perfect is used thirteen times in the book of Hebrews. Several times it is used in reference to the law and the Old Testament system of sacrifices that were not perfect. The law could not produce perfect redemption, perfect reconciliation, or a perfect fellowship. Nor could it perfect the conscience of man. It could not reach the root of the problem.

When referring to what Jesus did, Paul said it was perfect! Even the law and the prophets looked on the sacrifice of Jesus and said it was perfect. What Jesus did on the cross produced perfect righteousness to totally set us free! Now, we can be free from sin consciousness, a sense of failure, guilt or shame, so that we can come before God with perfect fellowship. It doesn’t get any more perfect then that!

Paul refers to God as “Abba Father” or “Daddy God.” The Pharisees got all upset because they saw God as some mystical creature that was so far off that they really could not approach Him. He was literally unapproachable to them. So, now, Paul shows up and calls Him “Daddy God,” and they would get upset with him because he was showing such irreverence towards the omnipotent God. The Pharisees would pray something like this, “Oh most holy, reverent Father who art in Heaven. Would you please come down on us filthy sinners and meet our needs.” Paul would pray to God something like this, “Daddy, I need your help.” I know that is my translation of it, but you see the difference. Paul looked at God as His Father, literally!

Jesus, through His sacrifice, brought us into the presence of God. He is our Father God. We can even call Him the most intimate term, “Daddy.” That’s perfect!

I. THE PERFECT SACRIFICE

The Message Bible translates our text like this: “It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people.”

I love the way the Message Bible writes this Scripture. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. You couldn’t get any better of a plan. I am sure after the plan was carried out in it’s entirety, Jesus stepped back and said, “Man, that is perfect!”

In the Old Covenant, there had to be a perfect sacrificial animal offered to atone for sins and to receive blessings in the covenant.

The word covenant actually means, “To cut till the blood flows.” It is an ancient rite that signifies that “two persons enter into the closest, the most enduring, and the most sacred of compacts, as friends and brothers.”

I Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ... 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Leviticus 23:12, “And ye shall offer that day ... a he lamb without blemish.”

Isaiah 53:7, “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.”

There is something that I saw last week as preparing for this message that I have never seen before. And of course, now I have to share it with you. Are you ready?

When the sacrificial lamb was brought to the priest, it was the lamb that was examined. The worshipper was cleansed and accepted, not based on his own perfection, but on the perfection of the sacrifice. This is the Old Testament that I am speaking of. It didn’t matter how bad the offense or what was done, what mattered was that the lamb was brought before God pure and holy. Not the worshipper, but the lamb.

The Bible says that Jesus is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle. So, because of that, some of us have been scared of the second coming because we are afraid that I might have sinned two minutes before the rapture, therefore I won’t make it. If I do good enough, I will go, but if I don’t do good enough, I won’t go. The God of the Old Testament NEVER accepted or rejected the worshipper based on his own works or failures. He always accepted or rejected the worshipper based on the sacrifice of the Lamb. If the Lamb was not perfect, they were rejected. If the Lamb met all the specifications, then they were accepted.

In the book of Leviticus, it is being prophesied that there is coming a day when a lamb will be offered without blemish. In Isaiah, another prophecy that says, He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. These are both speaking of the sacrifice of Jesus upon the Cross. So now, when we come to God, we don’t bring our own goodness, but we can draw near to God based upon the perfection of Jesus, the Lamb, slain from the very foundation of the world. Because of HIS perfect sacrifice, we are perfected.