If you would like the power point and word file, please email me with the title in the subject line.
I had 4 (very smart homeschooled kids memorize 11 verses and say the verses that talk about the cross through Hebrews).
Hebrews 10:1-18
“Once For All”
“Salvation ‘Happens’ in the here and now only because of the event that happened there and then.”
Sunday morning sermon
03.16.08
Intro: (Start with title and text)
I am so grateful for the cross of Christ. The salvation we hold on to in the present is only available to us because of the event back then. Our text this morning speaks about the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus. In fact the whole book of Hebrews speaks of atonement for sins. Someone said: “It is the most sustained piece of writing on the subject [of atonement] in the New Testament.” The cross goes all the way through the book – and to help me demonstrate that – I’ve enlisted some help:
Chris, Daniel, Andrea and Stephanie
Thank you – if our youth is the present of our church – we are strong indeed
Oswald Chambers said this – All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all of hell terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore it’s meaning.
This morning – I don’t want us to ignore the meaning of the cross. I don’t want us to be afraid of it, or bothered by it. Jesus did a mighty thing on the cross for you and me. Paul tells us in Romans it was a demonstration of God’s love. If you are a follower of Christ – it is because of the cross. If you are away from where you should be – you can come back – because of the cross. The Old Testament speaks of sin as this wide thing – this terrible gap between us and God. Listen the cross became a bridge for us – so that we could be with God forever. It is literally once for all payment for our sins.
Discussion:
The book of Hebrews has been called a sermon – or a letter to a group of Christians. Most of the letters in the NT were written to build up the readers – encourage them. 1st Corinthians was written to set the people straight – they were divided. The group of people who received this Hebrews letter weren’t divided – they were weary.
One commentary said this: “The preacher is not preaching in a vacuum; he is addressing a real and urgent pastoral problem, one that seems astonishingly contemporary. His congregation is exhausted. They are tired—tired of serving the world, tired of worship, tired of Christian education, tired of being peculiar and whispered about in society, tired of spiritual struggle, tired of trying to keep their prayer life going, tired even of Jesus. Their hands droop and their knees are weak (12:12), attendance is down at church (10:25), and they are losing confidence. The threat is not that they are charging off in the wrong direction; they do not have enough energy to charge off anywhere. The threat here is that, worn down and worn out, they will drop their end of the rope and drift away. Tired of walking the walk, many of them are considering taking a walk, leaving the community and falling away from the faith. (The quote continues- this is good background)
The preacher’s response may surprise us. The preacher is bold enough to think that Christology and preaching are the answers. The preacher does not appeal to improved group dynamics, conflict management techniques, reorganization of the mission structures or snappy worship services. He preaches to the congregation in complex theological terms about the nature and meaning of Jesus.”
If you have your Bibles turn with me to Hebrews 10:1-18 (Advance) (Read)
Our text this morning – is going to show us the cross. I want us to see the cross differently this morning. I know we understand what the cross is – We sing songs about it – several years ago we rushed to the movies to see a film about it. We plate it in gold and wear it around our necks – I know we understand what it is. This morning I want us to understand what it means.
I see three things this morning in our text:
(Advance)
I. The Cross of Jesus provides an effective sacrifice (1-10)
We see the cross from this side of it – we know Jesus avoided it, agonized over it, prayed about it – and accepted it. We know that he was stuck with a spear – and blood and water flowed. We know that Jesus probably suffocated.
The author of Hebrews looks at the cross through the view of the Old Testament – from THAT SIDE – if you will – he does so because of the meaning. He looks to see how Jesus’ death not only meets but surpasses the standard set by the blood sacrifices of the Old Testament. The Day of Atonement provided a time for the sins of the people to be removed from them – and unless Jesus can match and exceed the achievement of that sacrifice, he has nothing to offer.
I know this can get a little deep – but follow me. (Advance)
a. The Old testament sacrifices were inadequate – it was never enough(Advance)
i. Atonement through sacrifice was a Shadow of the good things to come
When I was a kid – we’d travel to Oklahoma to see my grandparents. Right as we left Dallas we’d see a sign that said Oklahoma City 200 miles. We NEVER parked right by the sign and assumed that it was our destination. The sign simply pointed the way, showed the destination – but the sign itself was not the destination. The author says, the law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming not the realities themselves. (Advance)
ii. Law required a repeat of the sacrifice
It did not fulfill its purpose. The best – the Day of Atonement could achieve was cleansing for the past year. But twelve months later the same ritual was needed all over again. The work of the priest was never finished – How different is Jesus! (Advance)
iii. The sacrifice was inadequate
Far from transformation, the sacrifice was an annual reminder of sin. The sacrifice never worked to heal – it only worked to remind the people that they were sinful, sinful, sinful – guilty and unacceptable to God.
Sometimes going to church can be like that too…Many preachers are better at reminding us that we are sinners than that God is gracious. It’s easy signal that people do not measure up. You don’t give enough, pray enough, witness enough, attend enough, serve enough, care enough, praise enough or whatever the current burden is. It’s never enough. The result is you are simply left to bring your flimsy ‘works’ to God in hope that somehow they will be acceptable. But what a betrayal of the cross of Christ that is! (Advance)
iv. The materials were invalid
1. Humans are God’s crown creation – look at Genesis… (Advance)
Genesis 1:27-28 (NIV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
After the creation of each day – God saw that it was good. Church, humans are the only ones who were directly blessed by God. How could the blood of goats and bulls possibly take the place of a human? They have no violation, no rationality and no comprehension of what is happening to them. They are passive. Hughes in his commentary says – (Advance) “A brute beast, by its very nature, is unqualified to serve as a substitute to man, the crown of God’s creation.”
Our text even says… (Advance)
Hebrews 10:3-4 (NIV) – But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
The OT sacrifices were not effective – it wasn’t even that what Jesus did on the cross was just better – it was better because it was different. It was better because it was final. It was better because of how he lived – he was obedient, which enabled him to be the perfect sacrifice, the fulfillment of the law.
Hebrews says – that Jesus quoted the psalm about sacrifice. Jesus saw the problem of the sacrifice even from heaven – people would offer the sacrifice – without obedience. We do that today too – Baptize without teaching – “well, it’s an act of obedience” – yeah, it is, but the obedience should be a condition of the heart. Baptism changes nothing if the heart is not ready to be obedient. The sacrifice of the OT offered without the obedience was settled with Jesus.
It was an effective sacrifice: Because Jesus lived an obedient life, he was able to offer an obedient life.
Two times already in Hebrews (Advance) (2:10; 5:8) Paul connects Christ’s obedience and his suffering.
Sacrifice through Jesus is re-defined as a self-offering – not the obedience of certain acts or rules but the “living sacrifice” Paul tells the church about in Romans. The work of Christ on the cross is effective because of what he established – a (Advance) new covenant. Vs. 9 it says…He sets aside the first to establish the second. Hebrews tells us – intimacy with God, the forgiveness of sins and the cleansing of our consciences do not depend on our offering sacrifices, but on the sacrifice he has already offered in our place. The work of Christ on the cross if effective because of whom it affected: he creates a holy people.
Haggai 2:11-14 – says that the prophet received a word from the Lord, and he asks the high priest a series of questions – it’s a parable of sorts. It reinforces the Old Testament teaching that, while it is possible to be made unclean by touching something defiled, it is not possible to be made clean by touching what was holy. If something was unclean it was separated or destroyed. The old covenant was powerless to make the unclean clean. It could recognize and celebrate when the transformation happened, but it could do nothing to make it a reality.
By contrast: We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Christ – ONCE FOR ALL.
b. Through the sacrifice of Jesus we are:
i. Cleansed from sin
ii. Sanctified in Christ
iii. Set apart to serve
Through the sacrifice, Christ provides the status, relationship and transformation. There is not a better, more effective answer to your guilt and sin than the person and sacrifice of Christ. You can try to change your will, your habits and even your lifestyle – But only Christ living in you, can change your heart. Only Christ living in you can change who you are. Our obedience will not spring from removing the junk and sin in our lives – it comes from moving ourselves closer to the person of Jesus.
The picture in our text shifts from the sacrifice that is offered to the priest who offers it. (Advance)
II. The cross of Jesus displays a superior high priest (11-14)
(Advance)
Hebrews 10:11 (NIV) - 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.
It was the priest hood of Aaron that the priest represented. Notice the characteristics – it was Day after day…again and again. The sacrifice never got them anywhere. What they did today they had to repeat tomorrow. Their sacrifices could never take away sins. It dealt with them at one level but not all the way. The sacrifices pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice that was to come, and their symbolism had value in anticipating the sacrifice of Christ. But only the sacrifice of Christ could take away sins. Here’s where it gets deep again – follow me.
a. Jesus was also a great high priest
i. After a different order – The order of Melchizedek (Advance)
Hebrews 7:1-3 (NIV) This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "king of righteousness"; then also, "king of Salem" means "king of peace." Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
Verse 16 says that his priesthood is eternal and built on ‘the power of an indestructible life.’
Because Jesus was from this order – Jesus was in a class all his own.
b. Jesus was well qualified to represent God
i. He was from the right priesthood – which pre-dated Aaron
ii. He had the right lifestyle through obedience
iii. He demonstrated God’s character, in grace and mercy
All of those things are true – you want to see God in human flesh you look at the life of Jesus – and his qualities are clear. There is a temptation to think that he could not represent or sympathize with our condition. There is a temptation to think that because he’s way up there – he could never help us as sinful incomplete human beings. Hebrews says that he was well qualified to help and represent us as well:
(Advance)
Jesus entered our humanity and was given a lowly position(Advance)
Hebrews 2:9 (New Century Version) But we see Jesus, who for a short time was made lower than the angels. And now he is wearing a crown of glory and honor because he suffered and died. And by God’s grace, he died for everyone. (Advance)
He was subjected to the full experience of temptation without giving in to it: (Advance)
Hebrews 4:15 (New Century Version) For our high priest is able to understand our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he did not sin. (Advance)
He was exposed to weakness: (Advance)
Hebrews 5:2 (New Century Version) Since he himself is weak, he is able to be gentle with those who do not understand and who are doing wrong things.
What qualified him to represent us to God was not his divine status but his proven humanity. In the normal world of leadership, businesses and politicians look to appoint ‘successes’, people whom they know will show no sign of weakness and will be above suffering. But it is exactly his experience of weakness and suffering that made him fit to be our representative before God.
c. Unlike the priests before him
He only offered one sacrifice. But it was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. One sacrifice offered by this great high priest was enough to abolish the whole levitical system at a stroke. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were like batteries with a limited life. Their effect lasted until the next day, until the next sin or, at most, until the next year. The sacrifice Christ offered will never run out. It was ‘for all time.’ Not only is it excellent and unrepeatable, but it has a remarkable and transforming effect. It succeeds in doing what the sacrificial system never achieved, (Advance) vs. 14 – because by this one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
It seems like this is just what I said earlier and here’s why it isn’t. The tense used here speaks of the ongoing effect of the cross in the lives of God’s people. We are able, in spite of our sin, to have continuous fellowship with God. There is not encouragement for believers to continue in sin, but there is assurance that sin, when it occurs and is repented of, has been fully and finally dealt with by Christ. The trouble conscience is silenced by Christ. Vs. 12 tells us that Jesus is at the right hand of God – he is vindicated by God through his resurrection and his exaltation in heaven. His work is his ministry as high priest, interceding for his people, but he does not continue to offer sacrifices.
Jesus is the only one who intercedes for us – but he is also all we need. I can pray for you, encourage you, instruct you – but I cannot intercede for you, no one, not even your mother can. Only Jesus can, and does for us – if we believe in him and follow his commands – it’s really that simple.
Because Jesus provides an effective sacrifice and he is a superior high priest – this is true as well. (Advance)
III. The Cross of Jesus creates a new covenant (15-18) (Advance)
Hebrews 10:15-18 (NIV) The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
The quotation in vs. 16-17 come from Jeremiah’s vision – already quoted in chapter 8.
Paul wants to show what the covenant does by quoting specific parts of the vision
a. The new covenant
i. Brings about an inward change in people’s lives
It is no longer a question of superficial obedience to an external law. Because the new covenant has worked an inner transformation in people’s wills, obedience is now a matter of willing and voluntary submission to God’s law.
ii. Brings about a decisive change (Advance)
Hebrews 10:17 (NIV) …Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.
1. The cross has dealt with them
2. They are forgiven
3. There is no need for the sensitive conscience to be dragging them up again as if they continued to matter
4. There is no need for further sacrifice for sins.
The one offered has done all that was needed. Any more would be a cheap imitation of the real thing, and it would be an insult to the cross of Christ.
The cross not only atones for past sins but brings forth a new promise. The atonement focuses on the past; the new covenant (someone said) ‘inaugurates a permanent arrangement for the future’. As a sacrifice of atonement, the cross brings us into a state of forgiveness before God. As a sacrifice of covenant, it keeps us in a place of relationship with God.
Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, is quite simply ‘better’ than any other. – And the cross has made it so.
Conclusion:
The work of the cross and man who died on it has no place in our lives unless we acknowledge and accept what he has done. The promises made in the Bible are not for us, unless we acknowledge and accept what he has done. God’s forgiveness, through Jesus does not have a place in our lives unless we acknowledge and accept what he has done. How do we acknowledge and accept the cross – (this is where I give you a list of things to do – and you take notes) – NO. Here it is: MOVE YOURSELF CLOSER TO JESUS. Not – a version of him, but the real thing. Not a sign about him or a picture of him – but the real thing.
For some of you that movement closer to Christ will take some time and effort and energy – because you aren’t where you should be – Church, move anyway. The OT sacrifices were offered because sin already existed – Jesus died on the cross KNOWING sin would affect your relationship with him. He already knows the sin in your life – it’s nothing new to him, you aren’t hiding it from him – stop trying!
Everyone can move closer to Christ – even if your relationship is pretty good. This might involve more of your time, maybe you need to spend more time in prayer – maybe you need to value your quiet time, avoid interruptions, turn off the cell phone, disconnect the internet – value your quiet time, and then follow through.
Wherever you are – moving closer to Christ – will change your sin habits, your speech, your frustrations and your motivations – because the change is in the heart. God doesn’t want you to go through the motions – he wants you to be motivated by his love for you – that love sent Jesus to the cross so that we could believe and have eternal life – Let’s pray.
