Cleaning Up Their Side of the Street

Hebrews 10:1-7 ESV

1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

My calling by God in the pastoral ministry means that I hold a great deal of responsibility in many different aspects, but all of the various responsibilities that I hold all circulate around providing the best spiritual care that I possibly can to you, the congregation that God has placed under my care.

And one of the ways that I can provide you with that care is by leading you in the orthodox faith: true, raw biblical Christianity. And one of the ways that I can lead you in this way is by revealing to you the opposite of biblical Christianity and contrasting it with that which is correct.

And one of the aspects and practices of non-biblical teaching held within supposedly Christian circles that is as old as the day is long is that of non-biblical legalism.

What you could say non-biblical legalism is, is when one conforms to moral and religious practices that are not biblical and then demands that others do the same.

Non-biblical legalism focuses on something, some sort of command, rule, or statute that is found within the Bible, or quite often, something that is not found within the Bible and then takes it out of context to such an extent to where one’s salvation is said to depend on obedience to this command or set of commands.

We see it all the time, so many different churches, so many different denominations will say that if you don’t follow all of the rules spelled out in their creed, then you will lose your salvation.

Now, what this kind of incorrect teaching has produced is two different types of people in the church.

The first type of people that it produces, which is the most common type, are people who view salvation as unattainable due to the ridiculous, heretical, legalistic tone that these churches put on salvation. These types of people will usually either say heck with it and quit the church or will live in constant fear of losing their salvation.

The second type of people that it produces are those who are proud. This type of people are even worse off than the first type of people. This type of people have set salvation and the maintenance of their salvation as something that they can actively do, and thus they proudly proclaim and believe that they are ultimately responsible for their own salvation, and that they remain saved because they are so obedient.

But contrary to what these different churches and denominations think, being burned out, fearful, or prideful concerning salvation is not the kind of response that legitimate salvation produces.

Legitimate salvation correctly understood produces humility, confidence in God, and worshipful adoration of He Who loved us and freely gave us salvation, recognizing that He done it all, not only for us, but in spite of the fact that we naturally didn’t want it.

That is what legitimate salvation produces, it produces that kind of feeling; but for some reason, there always have been, and I’m sure there always will be masses of churches, denominations, pastors, church leaders, and everyday laymen who will proudly proclaim that their salvation has either been accomplished or maintained through their own doing.

These kinds of people were especially present in the early church. And the author of the book of Hebrews, which no one knows for sure who is the author of Hebrews targets these kinds of people in the early church and systematically destroys the argument that they have in favor of their non-biblical legalism and then makes the case for the orthodox faith.

Early on in the New Testament Church, many of the converts to Christianity had previously been practitioners of the Jewish faith. And while orthodox Christianity offered its adherents freedom from the ritualistic aspects of the law, still there were many in the church, in fact, even many leaders in the early church who were saying that while one is saved by grace through faith, that person must still continuously keep every aspect of the law in order to maintain their salvation.

Well, to be quite honest, this notion is not only wrong, but also downright heretical.

And concerning this notion, we see right away in our reading for this morning the author of Hebrews dismantling this false reasoning of these heretical teachers, when he says:

Hebrews 10:1 ESV

1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

I mean, he pretty much does away with the whole legalistic concept right here. The law was a shadow of good things to come. In other words, the sacrificial system was put in place until the time when the One Who would fulfill these sacrifices was to come.

And concerning the law and the One Who fulfilled the law, Paul tells us in Colossians 2:17

Colossians 2:17 ESV

17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

In other words, the law was put in place, specifically the sacrificial system spelled out in the law was put in place until Christ came and sacrificed Himself. Thus, while the animal sacrifices were the type, the shadow of things to come, it was Christ Who was the anti-type, the substance and fulfillment of what was to come.

These being Jewish Christians believed this to be the case. They believed that the animal sacrifices merely foreshadowed what Jesus had by this point, already done for them on the cross.

And thus, the author says here that if these animal sacrifices which were but a shadow of the substance, which is what these Hebrew Christians believed, then how could anyone who is now a Christian possibly think that continuing to sacrifice these animal sacrifices every year on the Day of Atonement could somehow keep them saved?

He asks this because the whole purpose of sacrifice on the Day of Atonement was actually meant to produce the opposite result of security in one’s salvation.

Instead, we see what the intended result of the sacrificial system was in verse 2 and 3 of our reading, where it says:

Hebrews 10:2-3 ESV

2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

You see, these false religious leaders were saying that if one desired to remain saved, they must continuously on an annual basis, partake in the sacrifice offered on the Day of Atonement.

But here the author states that if that were the case, then the offering of these sacrifices should not have to be repeated. But before Christ came, they did have to be repeated every year, and rather than removing the sins of those who sacrificed on the Day of Atonement, the sacrifice itself actually worked as a reminder that the one who is sacrificing is a sinner and that they needed to be saved, not by animal sacrifice, but by the grace of God.

This is made all the more obvious when the author tells us in verse 4 of our reading:

Hebrews 10:4 ESV

4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

You see, the whole purpose of the law was not to make the practitioner of the law holy through obeying the law, rather, the whole purpose of the law was to show the practitioner of it that they were sinful and thus needed to be saved by something higher and holier than themselves.

And because that was the case, the conclusion is obvious: it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. They reminded the one who sacrificed that he was a sinner, but they did not in any way actually remove his sin and his guilt before God.

So, having firmly established that requiring Christians to sacrifice on the Day of Atonement under the pretense that they would lose their salvation if they did not was clearly false, the author now makes the case for what is the orthodox truth, when he tells us in verses 5-7:

Hebrews 10:5-7 ESV

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

The author here quotes Psalm 40:6-8 and proclaims that these were the words that Christ spoke to God the Father when He came into the world at the incarnation.

Christ, God the Son, proclaims to God the Father “Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired.”

This is clear-cut proof that God does not require nor desire animal sacrifices of any kind in order for someone to be saved and to stay saved.

Rather, the Son says to the Father, “a body You have prepared for Me”.

In other words, Christ says that while God does not require nor desire animal sacrifices for someone to be saved or to stay saved, what He has desired and required for one to be saved is partaking in the sacrifice of God the Son. It is this Instrument, namely, the righteousness through the applied blood of Christ that God uses to effect our salvation.

God takes no pleasure in the sacrifice that one puts forth to Him as though that sacrifice can save him. In fact, it greatly insults God to suggest that anything but His grace applied through the propitiatory offering of His Son could somehow save someone.

Christ is the One Whom the Scriptures testified of, it is He Who came to this world to obediently do the will of the Father, though He knew that it would result in His own agonizing death.

Thus, to declare that anything but Christ can atone for our sins is equal to telling God that you know better than Him, that your offering is better than what He has graciously supplied you with. What it is, is blasphemy!

And something else that is blasphemy is holding to the ludicrous notion that though God saved us by His grace, it is now up to us, through our own will, to maintain our salvation. That is an absolute insult to God. Not only is it an insult to God, but it’s also a joke!

It is an absolute joke to maintain that I, who can’t even go 5 minutes without sinning in some shape or form can keep myself saved through my own power. That kind of reasoning is ludicrous, it’s false, and it is extremely dishonoring to God, for this kind of reasoning places man rather than God as the master of his own destiny.

But though it is ludicrous and blasphemous, the majority of today’s Christian denominations hold to it…

We, in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church are among the few that still hold to the fact that as we could not save ourselves, so can we not keep ourselves saved, thus God accomplishes this for us. And because God Himself accomplishes it, then we can firmly hold to the truth that once God saves someone, that person shall always be saved.

Beloved Christians, let us take comfort in the once for all offering that Christ made on our behalf and that now secures us for all eternity.

Amen?