A. Introduction and Background
• The Book Hebrews is regarded by many scholars as the most difficult in the NT.
• It is a very Jewish sermon that describes sacrifices, altars and priestly matters.
• I in fact say Sermon because some theologians have suggested that the literary form of this Book is not that of an epistle as is customarily in the case with the apostle Paul’s epistles.
• Some theologians argue that we have here an ancient homily; a sermon, whose central focus is the majesty of Christ.
• The Book of Hebrews brings the whole counsel of God’s Word together.
• In order to get a proper understanding of the Book of Hebrews one requires familiarity with the OT Scriptures, especially the Book of Leviticus.
• The Book of Hebrews deals with the question of how the OT and the NT relate.
• The OT is in the NT and the NT is in the OT.
• It shows us how we should treat the Law of Moses in the OT as compared to now in the new era of what Christ has done in the NT.
• A favourite word of the writer of Hebrews is ‘better’.
• The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is ‘better’ than the angels, better than the prophets, better than the judges, better than the kings and all the other intermediaries.
• The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ is the Apostle and High Priest (Heb 3:1).
• In Hebrews chapter 3 verses 5-6, the author tells us that, “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.”
B. Authorship
• One scholar called the Book of Hebrews ‘the riddle of the NT’, for it is the only NT book whose authorship is unknown.
• Some scholars claim that Apostle Paul wrote this Sermon, others have suggested Barnabas, some suggested Stephen, others Silas or Apollos, and others suggested Priscilla.
• But as a maturing theologian myself, I have to say that God alone knows who wrote this Book of Hebrews.
C. Why was the book written?
• This sermon was written to encourage saints in the midst of persecution - to keep the faith – to endure to the end – and to follow after this Christ who was and is worthy of all things.
The author wrote in Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1-4: “1In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.”
• God has spoken to by His Son Jesus Christ (Heb 1:2a)
• God has appointed His Son Jesus Christ heir of all things (Heb 1:2b)
• The Son Jesus Christ is what makes the brightness bright in the glory of God (Heb 1:3a)
• The Son Jesus Christ is the exact image of God’s being (Person) (Heb 1:3b)
C. Ask someone to open in prayer
D. Exposition
Our text in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 – 18 falls into four sections:
• In chapter verses 1-4, the author shows how the sacrificial system of the OT failed to completely remove the guilt of sin.
• In chapter 10 verses 5-10, the author shows how Christ’s obedience to God’s will at the Cross of Calvary set aside the OT sacrifices and provided for us the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
• In chapter 10 verses 11-14, the author shows the totality of our forgiveness, by contrasting the unfinished, repetitive sacrificial system of the OT priests, with the finished, all-sufficient, perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus.
• And then, in chapter 10 verses 15-18, the author shows again the OT prophecy of the New Testament (Jer 31:31-34) that the total forgiveness it promises means that the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ is sufficient, perfect and final.
1. The imperfection and ineffectiveness of the OT Sacrifices to deal with guilt and sin (10:1-4):
“1The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
(V. 1). “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.”
• The is a difference between a shadow and the reality it reflects.
• You are not your shadow and your shadow is not you.
• The OT law and the Levitical Priesthood (with all its sacrifices) was but a shadow “of the good things that are coming,” Christ Jesus Himself.
(V. 1b). “For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year.”
• The Levitical sacrifices were made year after year, and this repetition was evidence of their ineffectiveness.
• Someone wrote, “The blood of animals cannot cleanse from sin because it is non-moral. The blood of sinning man cannot cleanse because it is immoral. The blood of Christ itself alone can cleanse because it is moral.”
• Animal blood was and is still not a sufficient sacrifice for sins.
• The Old Testament sacrifices and rituals failed to substitute and propitiate for man’s sins and thus to cleanse man’s guilt-ridden conscience.
• The Levitical sacrifices were performed endlessly year after year on the Day of Atonement and only the high priest could enter the Holy of holies (Leviticus 16).
Leviticus 16:29-34, “29 This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— 30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. 31 It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. 32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments 33 and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community. 34 “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.” And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.”’
Hebrews 9:7-10, “But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. 9This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.”
(V. 1c). “Make perfect those who draw near to worship.”
• In the OT times the blood of bulls and rams failed to make perfect or holy those who drew near to worship.
• None of the people and not even all of the priests could enter the Holy of holies.
• Sin was the hindrance, because God is holy and He has no fellowship with unholiness.
(V. 2). “Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.”
• The author of Hebrews reasons with us here, that if the blood of animals and these sacrifices were able to perfect those who drew near to worship, then they would not have had to be offered over and over again, endlessly, day after day.
• One offering or sacrifice would have been sufficient and effective to cleanse the worshippers once for all and for all time.
• One offering or sacrifice would have been sufficient and effective to cleanse the worshippers’ conscience of guilt for their sins.
We have seen this with Adam and Eve, as soon as they sinned, they tried to hide from God’s presence (Genesis 3:8).
• Genesis 3:8, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
• My dear friends, there should be no guilty conscience regarding sin where the guilt and penalty of sin has been removed.
(V. 3). “But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.”
• The OT sacrifices served as a reminder of past sins, as yet not removed.
• Every time a sacrifice was offered (again) it would remind the people of the fact that their sin/s had not been permanently removed.
• In Hosea chapter 6 verses 6 to 7, God tells His people; “For I desire steadfast love (LXX. Mercy) and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. 7But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.” (ESV)
• God in Hosea chapter 6 verse 7 gives us a hint of how it all began and takes us to Genesis 3.
The Story of the Fall in the Garden of Eden:
• In Genesis 3:15-17 we read, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
• In Romans 6:23, Paul tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• We know the story how the serpent tempted the woman to partake “from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and said in Genesis 3:4-5, “You will not certainly die,” … “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
• And the rest was history as we read in Genesis 3:6-7, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”
I. It was necessary that the eyes of Eve should be veiled till her husband also was deceived and when both were deceived they began to be sensible of their nakedness and wretchedness.
II. Guilt, Shame, and Nakedness was a consequence of their disobedience.
III. But Adam and his wife were yet ignorant of their own wretchedness, since with coverings they attempted to hide themselves from the presence of God.
• But God reached out to them in His grace – as we read in Genesis 3:21-24, “21The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.24After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”
• Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden didn't catch God by surprise. In His sovereignty, God had already made a plan to reach out and to save sinners.
I. The reason why the Lord clothed them with garments of skin appears to me to be introducing the animal sacrificial system that humanity should follow to maintain fellowship and intimacy with God in the OT.
II. God clothed the guilty couple with the skin of a slaughtered animal.
III. God demonstrated in a graphic way the horrific penalty of sin, but also His great mercy in providing an acceptable substitute in the place naked sinners.
IV. Adam and Eve were excommunicated from the tree of life, but a new remedy was offered to them in sacrifices.
• It is therefore as a consequence of Adam’s sin that humanity is born into sin because we have inherited the Adamic nature.
• Apostle Paul is clear in Romans chapter 3 verse 10 that, “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one.”
• Again, Apostle Paul is emphatic in Romans 3:23-24 that, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
• John Calvin defines original sin as: “A hereditary depravity and corruption of our nature, diffused into all parts of the soul, which first makes us liable to God’s wrath then also brings forth in us ‘works of the flesh.”
(V. 4). “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
• The author drops the bomb that “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
• The Old Testament sacrifices postponed the penalty for sins until Christ paid in full for them at the cross.
• The salvation of the saints before Christ was on credit, until Christ paid as a Substitute the bill in full.
• The OT sacrifices were like trying to pay your credit card debt/account with monopoly money. Impossible!
2. The perfect and effective sacrifice of the Lamb of God makes perfect forever (10:5-10).
5“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.’?” 8First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
• The essence of verses 1-4 is that the OT Law was a prototype of the good things to come in Jesus, but it was still powerless to perfect, something that only Jesus could do.
• The author of Hebrews reveals the incarnation of the Second Person of the Godhead, and of His infinitely superior priestly work of atoning for sins once for all and all time.
The author turns our attention to the prophetic words of David in Psalm 40:6-8: “6Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—but my ears you have opened —burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. 7Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll. 8I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”
• This Psalm of David was already pointing the OT readers to the Perfect Sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
• The sacrifices offered by those who were disobedient were offensive to God.
• The LXX puts emphasis on God’s preparing a body for Jesus that He would offer as the suitable Sacrifice and Substitute for our sins, becoming the Substitute for the Old Testament sacrifices.
I. Christ became incarnate in order that He should die for human sin.
Isaiah 53:10-11, “10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”
II. Christ the perfect Lamb of God was crushed and caused to suffer in your place.
III. Christ the Substitutionary Perfect Lamb of God was made an offering for your sin.
(V. 9). “9Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.”
• Luke tells us in 9:51 that, “He set His face to go to Jerusalem” (NASB).
• Again, we read in Luke 22:42 that Jesus knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
• The Perfect Sacrifice of the Lamb of God on the cross permanently replaced the Old Testament sacrificial system.
• There is no more sacrifice to be offered on the cross for sins. The Blood of Christ on the Cross supremely fulfilled and replaced the Old System.
(V. 10). “10And by that will, we have been made holy [sanctified] through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
• Sanctified refers to the inward cleansing from sin and being made fit for the presence of God, so that you and I can offer Him acceptable worship (Bruce, 236.).
• “Have been sanctified” is the Greek perfect tense, signifying a past action that has ongoing results. This is the doctrine of sanctification.
• The Perfect Sacrifice and Substitute of the Perfect Lamb of God granted us perfect standing before God for all time. It is Finished!
Listen to Hebrews 9:11-12; “11But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.”
• Christ perfect sacrifice has perfected you and it is already complete.
• The perfecting of you is complete and it is complete forever.
• And yet, you have been perfected – on the other hand – you are being sanctified.
Application:
I. The Perfect Lamb of God did not die for Himself but died for others.
II. The Perfect Lamb of God died without sin, but He died for your sin.
III. The Perfect Lamb of God endured the brutal, horrible, painful death not for His own sin, but for the sin of you and me.
IV. Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:22 that, “22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
V. Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that, “21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” [2 KWABASEKORINTE 5:21, “Kuba lowo ungazani nesono, wamenza isono ngenxa yethu, ukuze thina sibe bubulungisa bukaThixo kuye”].
VI. Christ is recorded by Apostle John in John 15:13 saying, “13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” [UYOHANE 15:13, “Akukho namnye unalo uthando olungaphezu kolu, lokuba ubomi bakhe abuncamele izihlobo zakhe”].
“We have been made holy” (V. 10).
• The word “to be made holy” is to be different and dedicated to God alone.
• You have been made holy – you did not make yourself holy.
• You did not do anything to deserve to be made holy.
• It is not the shedding of your blood that made you holy, but the Blood of the Perfect Sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
“Once for all” (V. 10).
• Jesus Christ is your sin bearer once for all time.
• Jesus Christ perfect Sacrifice and Substitute cleansed you from guilt and sin once for all time.
• Jesus Christ perfect Sacrifice and Substitute paid for your forgiveness once for all time.
3. The perfect and effective sacrifice of the Lamb of God has sat down at the right hand of His Father (Hebrews 10:11-14)
“11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:11-14).
• Verse 11 the author of Hebrews tells us that “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.”
• Verse 12 the author of Hebrews tells us that, “But when the priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat at the right hand of God.”
I. Verse 11. The priests remained standing.
II. Verse 12. The Perfect Lamb of God sat down.
III. Verse 11. The priests offered day after day (daily).
IV. Verse 12. The Perfect Lamb of God offered once for all.
V. Verse 11. The priests sacrifices did not remove sin.
VI. Verse 12. The Perfect Lamb of God removed sin and sat at the right hand of the Father.
Verse 13. “13and since [until] that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.”
• The author gives us a hint of the Second Coming of Christ.
• Christ is Coming again to judge the rebels who rejected His Finished work on the Cross and “to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him” (Heb 9:28).
• Christ came as the “Suffering Servant” but He will return as the “Triumphant King.”
• Christ came as the “Lamb of God” but He will return “Lion of Judah” and the Lord of lords.
4. The perfect and effective sacrifice of the Lamb of God removes completely the recollection of sins and lawless deeds of sinners from God’s mind (Hebrews 10:15-18)
“15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16“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.” 17Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary” (Hebrews 10:15-18).
• The author of Hebrews here attributes Jeremiah’s prophecy to the Holy Spirit who inspires all things (10:15).
• Jeremiah 31:33-34, “33This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.”
• God promises to put His laws upon His peoples’ hearts and to write them on their minds (10:16).
• Under the First Testament God wrote His laws on stone, whereas under the New Testament He writes them upon our hearts.
Charles Spurgeon says, “What a wonderful covenant that is—not that He will bless you if you keep the law, but that you shall be enabled to keep it, and that He will lead you to do so by putting His law, not on tables of stone, where your eye can see it, but on the fleshy tablets of your heart, where your soul shall feel its force and power, so that you shall be obedient to it.”
Verse 17. “Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
• God’s not remembering our sins does not mean that He is forgetful or has a defect in Him, but rather that He will not bring up our sins against us for judgment.
• There is no wrath left in God’s heart now against those for whom the Perfect Sacrificial Lamb of God has laid down His life for.
• Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:1-2, “1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
Spurgeon said, “That might well make David dance before the Ark of the Lord.”
Verse 18. “18And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.”
• There is no more need for animal sacrifices which were repeated over and over.
• The Perfect Sacrifice of the Lamb of God is effective forever.
• Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 is clear that, “17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!”
Listen to Charles Spurgeon: “Have I been a swearer? My blasphemy was laid on Christ before I was born, and I cannot be punished at God’s bar for that blasphemy because Christ has been punished for it. Have I been a thief; have I been a liar; have I been a drunkard? Or, have my sins, instead of that, been merely sins of the heart rather than of the life? Have I been an unbeliever, hard-hearted, callous, and careless? Whatever my sins may have been, they were numbered on Christ’s head of old when He was the scapegoat for my sins, and all the wrath of God which was due to all the sins which I have committed, or ever shall commit, if I am a believer, was borne by my Redeemer, and He received for my debts a full receipt from the hand of everlasting justice, and my sins are forever put away by Him? What does the Scripture say? “He finished transgression and made an end of sin.” What a wonderful word—“made an end of sin”! And then, again, “Once in the end of the world has Christ appeared to put away sin.” You know what that means: to put it right away so that you cannot find it any more. He has made an end, then, of His people’s sin and put it away. Christ by suffering what was due to God on account of sin has lifted up sin from His people and destroyed it, stamping it out as men stamp out sparks of fire, casting it right into the depths of the sea as men cast away that which they wish never to see again.”
5. Summation
Now what must you do with this truth?
• Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 6:17-18, “17But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
• And Paul again in Romans 12:1 says, “1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
