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.
I Peter 1:19, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Yes, Jesus is coming for a church without spot or wrinkle! Yes, Jesus is coming for a perfect church! But He knows that we can’t be perfect in our own. If He were coming for a church that was perfect as we think of perfect in our own works and merits, none of us would go, but because HE made the way. He is coming for a church that is washed in the blood of the LAMB. Because the perfection is not found in the worshipper, just as in the Old Testament, the perfection is found in the LAMB that was slain. Why do you think we have a better covenant? It is because with this new covenant, we no longer have to look for the perfect Lamb, the perfect Lamb has already been slain for each of us, and the blood has been shed once for all! Now we just have to have faith in the perfect Lamb! He is the One that makes us perfect! Because of the perfect sacrifice, now we have:
II. THE PERFECT UNION
I Corinthians 6:17, “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”
John 17:22, “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
The most important thing we can learn from the perfect sacrifice is that God sees us through the blood of Jesus and accepts us based on the condition of His perfect sacrifice, not ours. Just as in the Old Testament, God never looked at the condition of the worshipper; He looked at the condition of the Lamb. That has not changed in the New Testament. He made us holy through His blood and brought us into union with God. No longer are we struggling to be good on our own because now we share His life, His nature, and His ability. According to Hebrews 10:16, Now, God has put His laws into our hearts and has written them in our minds. We now share in His life and have entered into union with Him. He is the Vine and we are the branches.
There are two ordinances in the Church that clearly show the union we share with God through the blood of Jesus.
A. COMMUNION
In communion, we drink His blood and eat His flesh spiritually as we take the bread and the cup. His blood and life are applied by faith to show that we have been joined together to Him and are part of His body.
B. WATER BAPTISM
Water baptism is an external demonstration of the spiritual work of the cross. It shows our death with Jesus to sin, and also our resurrection with Him to new life. You can read all of Romans 6 and see the tremendous application of a type of the death, burial and resurrection found in baptism. When we get baptized, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. This joy, liberty and power is ours because of the blood of Jesus has brought us into perfect union with God.
The perfect sacrifice brings us into perfect union and it also gives us:
III. PERFECT WORSHIP
Hebrews 10:1-3, ΒΆ “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.”
Every year there were sacrifices made for the sins of the people under the Old Covenant. It was a constant reminder of their shortcomings and sins. Paul says that the law only was a shadow of the good things that would come, which is Jesus. These worshippers of the Old Testament were constantly reminded of their sins, but no longer!
Most of the church world still lives with sin consciousness because they don’t fully understand all that the blood of Jesus has done for them. It is very difficult to worship God when you are feeling guilty about what you did or didn’t do. That is what religion will teach, and then it will leave you feeling hopeless and fearful of God.
The Barclay Translation: Hebrews 10:1-2, “The Jewish law was no more than a shadow of the good things which are to come; you will not find in it the true expressions of these realities. By going on making the same sacrifices which are offered year after year for ever, the law can never perfect those who are trying to find a way into God’s presence. If these sacrifices could have done this, they would obviously have ceased to be offered, because the worshipper would have been once and for all cleansed, and would no longer be haunted by the sense of sin.”
The Old Testament law was a shadow of good things to come, but it was not the substance. The Old Testament sacrifices could not do what was necessary to reach the conscience of man and provide perfect fellowship with God. Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The law was a shadow, it wasn’t the real thing! However, according to Paul faith is the real thing. Faith is the substance. The law is the shadow, but faith is the substance. It is the concrete evidence, not the law or works or what we can see, feel, touch and hear. Through faith in the blood of Jesus, you can come right into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God.
Hebrews 12:21-24, “And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) (speaking of the Old Testament) 22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
Because of the cleansing, sanctifying, and unifying power of the blood, we can come face to face with God. We can be changed by His glory and be endued with His power and authority. Remember, this is not a picture of things to come, this is not a type, it is not a figment of our imagination. It is not a man-made idea, but a reality. We are actually in the presence of angels, Jesus, and those who have gone on before. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and it is all because of the blood of Jesus.
We are a worshipping, glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle, washed in the blood of the Lamb. We are the perfect worshippers and we can go right into the very presence of God!
What can wash away my sin?
What can make me whole again?
This is all my hope and peace!
This is all my righteousness!
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
I have been made perfect through the perfect sacrifice. That’s perfect!
