His Sacrifice Series

His Sacrifice

Hebrews 9:9-26, 10:1

The sacrifice of Jesus has made all other sacrifices obsolete; it alone is the full payment for sin.

SLIDE #1

Introduction

• What do you think of when you hear the word sacrifice? Do you think of someone (like a soldier or law enforcement officer) laying down their life for someone else? Sacrifice involves something or someone giving up their life for the benefit of another.

• The Old Testament is loaded with animal sacrifices.

• The shedding of blood dates to the Passover, when a spotless lamb was sacrificed so that the wrath of God would not happen to his people in Egypt.

• The rest of the Old Testament was built on animal sacrifice as worship and atonement for sins.

• God commanded five basic types of sacrifices.

• The Burnt Offering, the Grain Offering, the Peace Offering, the Sin Offering, and the Guilt Offering.

• These sacrifices were a way in which people could express their holiness or reclaim it when they disobeyed … forgiveness came when an animal died as a substitute for the sinner.”

• Every time an animal died for the sins of the people, that death was supposed to mean something.

• As the people participated and viewed in the time of sacrifice, it was supposed to awaken them to the seriousness of sin.

• The animal died through no fault of its own, it died to show the people the price for sin as well as push the sins under the carpet until a later time would come.

• I am sure seeing the animals sacrificed along with having the blood of the animal sprinkled on you was not a pleasant experience. Also, please take into consideration that when you brought an animal in for sacrifice, it had to be the best you had. This was to show us how serious sin is to God.

• In our time, I am not sure we take sin as seriously as God does. Sometimes I wonder if this seems to be the case because we do not have the reminder of seeing our best animal sacrificed on the altar.

• But then again, after some time, the sight of seeing the sacrificed animals did not seem to have the effect God had desired it to have on the people.

• To help convince his readers not to go back to Judaism, the Hebrew writer is going to make an effort to remind the readers of the fact that in Jesus, they have something different, something better and something eternal.

• The Hebrew writer is going to show us yet another reason not to abandon our faith in Jesus no matter what comes at us. Today we will examine why the sacrifice of Jesus was greater than ANY sacrifice under the Old Covenant, the Old Testament sacrificial system!

• The Big Idea of the Message: The sacrifice of Jesus has made all other sacrifices obsolete; it alone is the full payment for sin.

• We will focus on Hebrews 10:1; this will build off the foundation of what we read in Hebrews 9:9-26.

• Let’s now turn to Hebrews 10:1.

SLIDE#2

Bible Verse

Hebrews 10:1 (CSB)

1Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.

SLIDE #3

1. I. The law was a shadow of His sacrifice.

Explanation

• The first part of verse 1 of chapter 10 tells us the Law has only a shadow of good things.

• The word IMAGE and SHADOW is used in Hebrews 8:5 were used to express the comparative worth of the Old Testament sacrificial system and the sacrifice of Jesus.

• Christianity is superior to the OT system for many reasons. One of the reasons is the fact that the OT system was just a shadow of what was to come.

• The OT system was a model, a form, a shadow of good things that were to come.

• Good things to come refers to the blessings that would be granted to people through the Gospel, which were still in the future when viewed from the Old Testament standpoint.

• Today, we are not looking to go back to the Old Testament sacrificial system, but what are we looking to go back to?

• Think about this for a second. God ordained the Old Testament system, yet we are told that it is not a place to return.

• Now, if God’s Old Testament system is not something we are not to return to, what is out there that is better than the sacrifice of Jesus? What out there is better than the Old Testament system?