April 24,1994
BLESSED NEGATIVES
Heb 10:1-18 (code = he10tv18)
INTRO: (1) It would be nice if everything could be positive and nothing was ever negative. At times we try to create an ideal world by emphasizing only the positive. To do this means denying that anything is less than positive. Not long ago I heard a caller on a talk show in Seattle with Mike Segal criticize the demeanor of the discussion on President Clinton’s woes because it was "negative." The man wanted to hear only what was positive.
(2) Many things in life are not positive. Sin is very negative. At times the only way to deal with the negative is with what we might consider a negative consequence. For example, Christ dealt with sin by dying. That is negative and yet it is the only effective cure for sin. No amount of denial will make it go away. Accepting the negative facts and
receiving the negative consequences is the way to turn a negative into a positive. This is something like the technical effect of a double negative in the English language or the mathematical result of subtracting a negative number from another negative. The outcome may be positive.
(3) Because of the negative influences in the world, some of the more positive things God says to us are housed in negative terms. What we encounter in Hebrews 10 are "positive negatives." They are negative statements which produce positive results.
PROP: GOD’S NEGATIVES MAY BE MANKIND’S POSITIVES.
TRANS: Here are five blessed negatives from Heb 10:1-18.
I. The law is not the very image of good things to come; it can never make people perfect (Heb 10: 1-3).
A. Verse 1 in the NASV reads, " For the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near." Had the offerings resulted in perfection or completely purged consciences, there would be no need for their continuation. It is a negative fact that repetition of the offerings points to only temporary relief.
B. It is difficult to improve on the words of Chuck Swindoll as he introduces his discussion on this passage:
The most extensive object lesson God ever gave mankind was the Law, especially the animal sacrifices required by the Law. Time after time, animal after animal, year after year, blood offering after blood offering, the sacrificial smoke filled the altar and ascended to heaven. The act of sacrifice was as commonplace under the Law as the sound of bells ringing from church steeples is today. But actually, it all was "a shadow of the good things to come." None of it ever took away sins! Animal sacrifice was merely an object lesson; it was a picture without words, a sermon without substance. Not until the Lamb of God offered Himself, one sacrifice for all time, was the picture made perfect. (81) #9-31
C. There is great difference between a shadow and an image. An image is like what we see when we look into a mirror. A shadow is what we see when light is obstructed by an object. The Law was the visible yet not fully discernible outline left when the light of Heaven was shaded by sin. The real thing is still on the other side but at least the veil has been torn by the "image of God (II Cor 4:4; Col 1:15).
II. It is not possible for animal blood to take away sins; the sacrifices can never take away sins (vv 4, 9-11).
A. Not and never are strongly negative words. When we read them we think that somehow we are limiting God in this passage. The real limitation is in animal blood and sacrifices rather than in God. He is omnipotent. The impossibility is not with Him because with God all things are possible (Mk. 10:27). All things are not possible with earthly blood, however.
B. As a note of interest, it was not possible for death to hold Christ (Acts 2:24). The power is all God’s. Impossibility is primarily an expression of the limitations of creation.
III. God has no pleasure in burnt offerings and offerings for sin (vv 5-8).
A. Verse five contains a quote from Ps 40:6-8 which revealed the attitude of the Messiah in coming to Earth to do the will of the Father. Included in the Father’s will is putting an end to animal sacrifices which could not solve the human problem. They had only temporary value at best. For this reason among others, God had no pleasure in them. He saw no good reason to make them do what could not be done by them. They could not be viewed favorably when compared with the achievement of Christ’s death on the cross.
B. Samuel told Saul that to obey was better than sacrifice. Micah reported that God had no pleasure in anything short of a contrite spirit (Mic 6:6-8). Malachi quotes the Lord’s disdain for bad offerings (Mal 1:10). Like a broken vessel, certain things were said to be unable to contain the Lord’s pleasure. He had no pleasure in them because they allowed it to flow out by not fulfilling the main need in man’s relation to God ( Moab was broken like an undesirable vessel, Jer 48:38; there was no pleasure in Coniah, Jer 22:28; Israel even reached the point where they were swallowed up among the nations and became as a vessel in whom no one delights, Hos 8:8 NASV). Solomon pointed out Jehovah’s lack of gratification in the foolish person who makes a vow and failed to fulfill it (Eccl 5:4). He has no enjoyment in the death of even the wicked (Ez 18:32; 33:11). This, by the way, is why He calls for repentance. He also has no pleasure in the one who draws back (Heb 10:38). All of these " leak" the will of God by not performing His desired purpose. As a broken vessel cannot hold liquid as needed so can these things and people only fail to hold the pleasure of God. Moral obedience is far better than material sacrifices. "The self-sacrifice of Christ, in submission to the will of God, is far better than all ’burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.’" (101-102) #15-45
IV. Sins and iniquities God will remember no more (vv 12-17).
A. The phrase tied to the likelihood of God’s remembering the sins of His people under the New Covenant, is a very strong negative in the Greek language. Greek intensifies the force by multiplying the negatives. Therefore a double negative in Greek is intensified rather than nullified. God says there is no way He will remember our sins.
B. To remember means to call to mind or to keep in one’s mind (Vine - 203/vi). When God says that He will remember no more, He is not claiming that He will forget. Rather, He is saying that He will never bring them to His consideration ever again when He thinks of us. The price has been paid; the law has been satisfied; we have a wonderful Savior.
V. Where remission is there is no more offering for sin (v18).
A. Remission is itself a negative concept except when applied to sin and sin offerings. Forgiveness is the outcome. As Albert Barnes commented on this verse, "If those sins are wholly blotted out, there is no more need of sacrifice to atone for them, any more than there is need to pay a debt again which has been once paid." The repeated act of sacrifice was a reminder of the presence of sin and the major catastrophe and cost associated with it. This points to a significant difference between the Old and New Covenants. "In the one, sacrifices were offered every day; in the other, the sacrifice once made was final and complete: in the one case,, there was no such forgiveness but that the offender was constantly reminded of his sins by the necessity of the repetition of the sacrifice; in the other, the pardon was so complete that all dread of wrath was taken away, and the sinner might look up to God as calmly and joyfully as if he had never been guilty of transgression." (232) 227.87/Ba
B. Why repeat what has been removed? Some old laws still remain on the books having never been repealed though their usefulness as city ordinances has long since subsided. I like these examples of standing and standing laws:
It is apparently easier to pass a law than to get it off the books even long after any usefulness may have been served.
Conscientious legislators went to some weird extremes to preserve Sunday as a
day of rest and worship. Here are a few examples of from Robert W. Pelton’s book,
Looney Laws:
* Hillsboro, Oregon, must have had a problem with raucous roosters.
The town passed a law forbidding the crowing of roosters on Sunday
within 300 feet of "any house inhabited by human beings."
* Mapleridge, Michigan, passed a law forbidding ducks to quack after
10P.M. on Sunday.
* Horses drew the attention of lawmakers in Redbush, Kentucky. The
law forbade anyone to ride "an ugly horse" to church. (Presumably
Kentucky wanted to preserve its reputation for fine steeds!)
* A law in West Union, Ohio, prohibited a man from fishing on Sunday
-- unless he had been married for more than a year or took his wife with
him.
* Bluff, Utah, protected its churchgoers against onion-eating clergy. It
prohibited ministers from eating onions between 7AM and 7PM on
Sundays.
* Little Nacagdoches, Texas, came up with an innovative ordinance
against boozers. That old law ordered "a large dose of castor oil"
for such people. And who administered the penalty? The man’s wife!
(2) 96.34
Laws have purpose when they are put into effect. Changes sometimes make them useless or even humorous. The Old Testament Law was not really a laughing matter. It was good for its purpose and for the time we needed it, but now it is repealed. It has been fulfilled and therefore negated. To leave it alone and uncountered in this life will prove dangerous in the next. Back in October 1991, a death row inmate in Oklahoma City almost experienced his just reward when District Judge B.R. Beasley ordered Sheriff Stanley Glanz to execute Benjamin Brewer based on a "seldom-used, 80-year-old Oklahoma law that allows a sheriff to carry out an execution if no legal reason exists to delay it." No action had been taken in Brewer’s case for 18 months when the execution was ordered.
133.7
CONCL: (1) Claudia Ulici, a former student at Washington Baptist College of Biblical Education, once wrote a couple of articles for the school newsletter on "The Fingerprints of God in Mathematics. The thought of taking away a negative has sort of a mathematic ring to it. I liked Claudia’s words on this concept: " In one of the first lessons, we learned about plotting numbers on a number line. We know that anything to the right of the origin is positive and anything to the left of the origin is negative. This concept relates to the Judgment Day. God is the origin of all things." In Matt 25:34,41, we learn that "with our sinful natures we are all on the left side of the origin and we all deserve to be thrown into everlasting fire." 128.6
(2) We can switch sides with the Lord’s act of "subtracting" or "canceling" our deficit. Our gain or surplus is found in what God gave up. His negatives result in positives for us.
