Saved by His Sacrifice
Hebrews 10:1-10
Introduction: The writer of Hebrews was well acquainted with the Jewish system of laws and especially how the sacrificial system lay the groundwork for our understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The Law set forth in type and shadow the pattern for things to come. Also, from the very beginning God’s design there has been for a sacrifice to be the answer to man’s sin. When Adam and Eve sinned animals had to die to provide a covering for their nakedness. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by Jehovah because it involved the sacrifice from his flock. The sacrifice of Isaac by his father involved the death of a ram that God provided. This pattern is followed throughout the OT in the Levitical system of sacrifices which is what the writer of Hebrews is referring to. The crowning glory of the sacrificial pattern is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. This morning with God’s help I want to look at three words in verse 10 of our text, “…once for all…”
1 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.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
I. The Singularity of the Sacrifice – “once”
SYMBOL OF ATONEMENT
"The cross is a fitting symbol of the atonement, for it represents the intersecting of two attributes or facets of God’s nature. Here it is that the love of God meets the holiness of God. The holiness requires payment of the penalty, and the love provides that payment."
Milliard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids MI: Baker Academics: 1998) 835.
a. millions vs one
b. no pardon – returning again and again
c. purifying the conscience – remembrance year after year
When we think of the atonement we are apt to think only of what man gains. We must remember what it cost God and what it costs Him now when men refuse His love.
Hebrews 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
II. The Substitution in the Sacrifice – “for”
A preposition is a word—and almost always a very small, very common word—that shows direction (to in "a letter to you"), location (at in "at the door"), or time (by in "by noon"), or that introduces an object (of in "a basket of apples"). Prepositions are typically followed by an object, which can be a noun (noon), a noun phrase (the door), or a pronoun (you). Merriam Webster Dictionary
Let me read a quote from Thomas Schreiner
DEFINITION
The penal substitutionary view of the atonement holds that the most fundamental event of the atonement is that Jesus Christ took the full punishment that we deserved for our sins as a substitute in our place, and that all other benefits or results of the atonement find their anchor in this truth.
SUMMARY
All people are in need of a substitute since all are guilty of sinning against the holy God. All sin deserves punishment because all sin is personal rebellion against God himself. While animal sacrifices took on the guilt of God’s people in the OT, these sacrifices could never fully atone for the sins of man. For that, Jesus Christ came and died in the place of his people (substitution), taking upon himself the full punishment that they deserved (penal). While there are other theories of the atonement, which point to other valid aspects of what happened in Christ’s death, the penal-substitutionary element of the crucifixion secures all other benefits that come to God’s people through the death of their representative.
Main Idea: Jesus died a horrible death so we could live for eternity.
The Apostle Peter wrote:
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
SHANNON'S SACRIFICE
It was March 24, 1998 in Westside Middle School near Jonesboro, Arkansas. A total of five people, four female students and a teacher, were killed at a school shooting. Ten people, nine students and one teacher, were injured. The perpetrators of the shooting were two students, 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson, and 11-year-old Andrew Golden, who were shooting in an ambush style from the woods in camouflaged clothes.
On the night before the shooting, Golden assisted Johnson in loading his mother's Dodge Caravan with camping supplies, snack foods, and seven weapons (two semi-automatic rifles, one bolt-action rifle and four handguns), which had been stolen from Golden's grandfather's house. The following morning, the boys drove in the van to Westside Middle School. As they arrived, Golden pulled the fire alarm then ran back to the woods where Johnson had taken the weapons. When the children and teachers filed out of the school, the two boys opened fire. They killed four female students and one teacher and wounded ten others. Shannon Wright was the teacher who was killed in that incident. Witnesses said that when the shots rang out and she realized the danger she jumped in front of the children to save them. In doing so she was shot and killed.
On her mind was one thing. Save the children. She offered her life to protect them and gave hers in doing so.
III. The Scope of the Sacrifice – “all”
Dictionary.Sensagent.com makes the following statement concerning the scope of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ:
The terms unlimited, universal, and general are somewhat of a misnomer and have been adopted primarily to distinguish this doctrine from a Calvinist understanding of limited atonement. More accurately, the call of the Gospel is universal and there are no limits on who can believe through faith, but the legal payment is still regarded as limited only to those that respond through faith in Jesus. Thus, it is not the same as the doctrine of universal salvation, which holds that all souls will ultimately be reconciled to God, irrespective of faith.
The following statements regarding what it states and what it does not state are subject to close scrutiny of which many distinguished theologians on both sides of this issue disagree.
What it states
The purpose of the atonement was universal—Jesus died on behalf of all people, not just the elect.
The atonement makes a way for all to respond to the Gospel call—Part of the effect of the atonement is the restoration of the ability to respond to God's call of salvation (see Prevenient grace).
Salvation is available for all—The doctrine of unlimited atonement rejects the predeterminism associated with Calvinism and states that every human has the opportunity to accept Jesus through faith.
The atonement legally pays for the sins of those who believe on Jesus—Only those who believe on Jesus are forgiven—only the believers' sins are paid.
Because of Christ’s sacrifice:
a. Atonement is complete…nothing else needs to be done. “It is finished…”
b. All means all, and says that all may be saved
c. Anyone may resist and chose not to believe.
GRATITUDE AND SACRIFICE
Since the Son of God has died for me, then the least I can do is live for Him. "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me," said the great British athlete C. T. Studd, "then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him."
(Source: Norman Grubb, C. T. Studd, Cricketer and Pioneer, p. 141. From a sermon by Matthew Kratz, Give Worship, 11/29/2009)
The New York Post:
The headmaster of the Nashville Christian academy slain in Monday’s massacre reportedly “headed straight for” the school shooter before she was gunned down, a city councilman said.
Katherine Koonce was in the middle of a Zoom meeting when gunshots rang out shortly after 10 a.m. at the Covenant School, Nashville City Councilman Russ Pulley told Fox News.
The 60-year-old headmaster, who was among six victims killed by shooter Audrey Hale, immediately jumped into action to help protect her young students, Pulley said.
“It is my understanding from a witness at the school, that Katherine Koonce was on a Zoom call when she heard the first shot. She immediately ended the call, got up, and headed straight for the shooter,” Pulley reportedly said.
“She did what principals and headmasters do: She protected her children,” Pulley, an ex-FBI agent, told Fox News.
SOMEONE ELSE IS PUNISHED
There was once a movie called The Last Emperor. A young child was anointed as the last emperor of China and lived a life of luxury with 1,000 servants at his command.
He was once asked by his brother, "What happens when you do wrong?"
"When I do wrong, someone else is punished." Then he demonstrated by breaking a jar and one of his servants was beaten.
In Christianity, Jesus reverses that ancient pattern so that when the servant(us) makes a mistake, the king is punished. Instead of being condemned eternally for our sin nature, Jesus is condemned instead.
