Why He Came Series

Text: Hebrews 10:8-25, Title: Why He Came, Date/Place: NRBC, 12/19/10, PM

A. Opening illustration:

B. Background to passage: as we said this morning, the author is coming to a culmination that Christ is the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law, the greatest high priest, mediating the best covenant, through the perfect sacrifice and incarnation.

C. Main thought: text gives at least three reasons that Christ came to us, three things accomplished

A. Once and for all sacrifice (v. 10-13)

1. In comparison to the yearly and other regular sacrifices, the sacrifice of Jesus was so superior that he offered Himself once on the altar and did what millions of lambs, bulls, and goats could never do. Imagine what it would have been like to grow up choosing animal after animal all your life, then the Messiah comes (the greatest leader and holy man ever) and you no longer have to do that, EVER. As priest, He laid down His body as a perfect sacrifice, died, rose again, and now sits (because His saving work is forever done) at the right hand of God.

2. Rom 6:10, Heb 7:27, 9:12

3. Illustration: definition: a single occurrence to the exclusion of any other similar occurrence, illustration about the red cord on the temple doors turning white, and it not turning white again after 30 AD, Catholics have mass every week, in which according to their doctrinal statements the priest has been “given the power” to pull Christ down off the throne and relive His sacrifice,

4. We just don’t understand how amazing this was to Jews. In fact they would have been in disbelief for someone to suggest that one sacrifice could end it all. As your salvation goes, this is the only sacrifice needed to secure your place in heaven. It is complete, it is full, it is final. You can’t earn it, it all comes from Him. Can’t add anything to it, and to do so is not only heretical, but it is damning. For we must trust for all of our salvation in the death of Christ alone on our behalf.

B. Perfecting the sanctified (v. 14-17)

1. Or sanctifying the perfected. Secondly, this text teaches that we that are in Christ, born again, have been sanctified. The verb is in a tense that means a past, completed action with permanent, lasting results. There is a sense in which believers are instantly sanctified. Their sin is taken away; they are forgiven; they are no longer guilty; and they have been robed in the righteousness of Christ, thus perfected/completed in the eyes of God. But in these verses is the sense in which we are being sanctified. This shows that permanent sanctification (genuine salvation) has truly occurred to those who are presently being transformed/made holy. The text reminds us of the OT prophesy toward the sanctified permanently who are also being sanctified presently: the law of God is written on their hearts, but their sin will be remembered no more.

2. Argumentation

3. Illustration: the man who rescued the eggs of a Canada goose that was hit by a car and because of imprinting the birds thought they were people, and the man had to train them how to be geese, Richard Gere having to retrain Julia Roberts that she was a beautiful woman with a lot of potential instead of a prostitute,

4. If you are being transformed, you have been perfected. God sees Christ when He looks at you. He doesn’t remember your sin, by choice. He pronounces you “justified.” Being sanctified means that you are becoming more holy—you are shedding and killing sins at deeper and deeper levels. Your desires are being shaped more and more by the Word and the Kingdom. Your love for God is growing, and thus your obedience to Him is advancing. You begin to think more like, act more like, speak more like Jesus. At the core of the word sanctify is the idea of being set apart for special use. And as you, being perfect, become more sanctified, you will become more useful and more used of God.

C. Tearing down the veil (v. 18-25)

1. The new and living way that is described by the speaker here is: because Christ was bodily manifested and died in our place, we can have access into the holiest of holies, which would be the presence of God. No priest is necessary, no mediator except for Christ, we can go to God ourselves because of Christ. So the preacher draws some applications from these truths: 1) having assurance in this once and for all payment for our sanctification, draw near to Christ (relationally, not salvifically) in holiness. 2) Hold fast to your hope without wavering, because Christ is faithful. 3) Think about other believers and how to encourage them toward good works and sanctification. 4) Gather together as believers for exhortation of the body.