Heb 10:1-10 Perfection

Hebrews  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  27:19
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Hebrews 10:1–10 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.’ ” 8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
I was having a hard time thinking of perfection or something that we appreciate that attempts to reach perfection. For the most part, I’m not someone that is concerned deeply about perfection. My wife is the one that cares about the little details, when we finished our basement I worked on the rough building, building walls, and doing the electrical and plumbing work, but it was dreadful work for me to finish up all the details because I’m not someone that cares for perfection. At least I thought so. I’m now convinced that each of us has at least one thing that we care deeply about perfection, and we get very frustrated or disappointed when it’s not perfect. This past Sunday Leanna and I went to see the Youth Orchestra to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. To my surprise, the Orchestra played my favorite song from my favorite composer, Dvorak’s 9th Symphony. At first, I was excited, but then I was disappointed because of the imperfections, they did a great job, however, it was not perfect and spotless, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected. You might not like the same kind of music that I like, so you might not care that much about perfection, or attempt at perfection in this scenario. However, there is another kind of perfection that matters for eternity, and we all should care about deeply about this. It is the perfect relationship with our creator. That is the perfection that the author of Hebrews talks about in the verses we are studying today. As you hear the perfect word of God being read in these verses you might notice a few things. First, it is a long passage. Second, it seems like there is nothing new here in this passage, all that these verses say here is found in the previous chapters. Third, there is this theme of perfection and how it was unattainable in the Old Covenant, but it is attainable in the New Covenant. This idea that the Mosaic law is incapable of bringing perfection is what v1 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.
Previously the author of Hebrew had told us that the Tabernacle was a shadow or replica of the Heavenly temple, now the author tells us that the law was a shadow of the good things to come. For us today, we see little importance in the temple and the Old Covenant law, but we need to remember that the Law and the temple were established by God as the way to access God for several centuries. Thus, it was a big deal for many believers in the first century. It was earth-shattering for the first readers to consider that the temple and the law were not able to bring perfection and it was intended only to point to something greater, the New Covenant. Ultimately someone greater, Jesus. This argument was already made previously in the Hebrews letter. However, because of its crucial importance, God reminds us of it again, and again. We have to understand in our heads and hearts this simple truth that the Old Covenant law was imperfect, and its main purpose was to point to the ultimate reality of the salvation and redemption available only through Jesus. This truth cannot be something that we just say “yeah, yeah, I know, I heard this before several times”. If you love Jesus you won’t mind hearing about Jesus again and again, because you have this truth implanted in your hearts. If something is important God repeats it again and again, this truth is not only repeated here in Hebrews, but Paul makes a similar argument in Colossians 2:16-17 “16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Here Paul makes the argument that the law was a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Similarly, to the Hebrews letter, the point is that Jesus is what matters. Your relationship with Jesus is what matters. We are not tempted to follow the Old Covenant rituals. However, it is very easy for us to just go with the flow of the external practices of Christianism and miss the most important part, our relationship with Jesus. How we live and what we do is very important, however, following Christ is far more than what we do. There are some expectations that we might have, or others have for us, that will have no importance for eternity. One might expect that as a Christian you should attend church, that you would have a certain stance on some political matters, that you would abstain from getting drunk and partying, that you will be a good citizen, someone that helps others, that you will give your time, energy and money to the church and to other God-honoring organizations. I’m not saying that these things are bad, they are good things. These are things that Christians do, you don’t need to force believers to pray and read their Bibles, these are things that if you are a believer, you will have a desire to do. However, even though these are good practices, if our heart is not where it should be, even though these are good things, these practices by themselves are not going to be pleasing or honoring God. If God would care solely for the physical external practices God wouldn’t say this in Isaiah: Isaiah 1:12-14 12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. And 1 Samuel 15:22 “And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” Psalm 51:16-17 “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” There are other references as well, but then here in Heb 10 the quotation from Psalm 40 “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired” We might be trampling on God’s grace if we are concerned only with external appearances and practices if our heart is not right. God sees your heart, He knows what is in our minds before we speak a word, He knows them. God is concerned for our hearts. God doesn’t want our hands, our feet, or our pockets. You cannot give God just a little part of you. He wants you, all of you, not just a little part of you. We might ask why God is so concerned for our hearts and not solely about what we do. Because there are no religious practices that can make anyone perfect, it is impossible. 1For 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.
Hebrews 10:2–4 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. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
No religious practices can make someone perfect, not even what God had ordained in the Old Covenant and was in place for many centuries. It is only through Jesus. This was shocking to these first readers. To us in the twenty-first century, this is not shocking, we have heard this before and are accustomed to the idea that we don’t need to follow and obey the Old Covenant sacrifices. However, for the first readers, this was shocking and difficult to grasp because to them the author of Hebrews was telling them to stop doing what God had commanded in the Old Covenant. Furthermore, it was something that was part of their tradition, the tradition of their parents, their grandfathers, and every great, great, great grandfather for many centuries before. This change that we don’t see as a big deal, might have caused the believers in the first century to question their identity because it was such a drastic change to what they were used to. And cause those in their family to shun them. If we had a chance and we would be taken back in time and see their distress, we might look down on these believers, and just say in our heads, just buckle up buddy, get used to it, this is life now with Jesus in the new covenant. While if anything like that would happen to us, we would be torn apart not knowing which way is up. Can you imagine how difficult it would be if God would bring a change to our Christian traditions and practices? One tradition that we have is the Candlelight service singing Silent Night. We might look down on other traditions and practices and how others have a rigorous liturgy. However, we have a non-liturgical liturgy, we start with announcements, then we pray, then we sing three songs standing up, then we sit down we pray, then we sing two or three more songs sitting down then scripture reading, then message, then closing song and we close in prayer. There are so many traditions and practices that we have that are more based on tradition than on Scripture. I’m not saying we should change all our traditions and practices, but I’m saying, what if God would bring a great change in how we do church and worship Jesus? We would be in the same place as these believers in the first century. What if God would bring great change into our lives? But as a result, God’s Kingdom is growing and expanding like you have never seen before. What if we get to a point where we come on Sunday here to worship Jesus, and we are having a hard time because there is no parking spot and not enough chairs for us to sit on? Are we going to embrace the sinners and broken people that are coming? Or are we going to look down, despise them, and be angry at them because they brought a change to what we were comfortable with? Are we going to get upset and disappointed because things have changed? Or are we going to embrace the change because the substance, that is Christ, still is the center, the cornerstone, with God’s word in its rightful place of highest authority for us? If we face change in our traditions and practices, we need to remember what the first readers of this letter to the Hebrews had to be reminded of again and again, that there are no religious practices that can make anyone perfect, it is impossible. It is only Jesus. That is exactly what the author of Hebrews is pointing to as he quotes from Psalm 40 in v5-7.
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.’ ”
These verses are a quotation from Psalm 40. It is pretty amazing to me to consider how the author of Hebrews found this quote and how he saw the connection with Jesus. This tells me of the great Old Testament knowledge of the author of Hebrews, but also it reminds me that all of Scripture was breathed out by God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. In Psalm 40 it is David speaking, but in the Psalm especially in these verses, it is really hard to think and interpret as David talking about himself, clearly, it was by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that these words in the Psalm were from Jesus. This was highly important to the first readers to point out that the New Covenant was already revealed in part in the Old Testament. Furthermore, we need to remember that Jesus is the word of God. Jesus speaks through all of the Scriptures, thus it shouldn’t surprise us to find words in the Old Testament that seem to be from Jesus’ mouth. However, if you look at the quote here in Hebrews and Psalm 40 you will notice that the second half of Psalm 40:6 reads, ‘but my ears you have pierced/opened’ and the quote in Hebrews reads, but a body you prepared for me. We might ask, why this difference? The difference between these two is that in Hebrews the author is quoting a specific translation of the Old Testament, the Greek translation, the Septuagint. The book of Hebrews is one of the top three books of the New Testament that quotes the most from the Old Testament. In all of these quotes sometimes the author of Hebrews will just give the quote without a following interpretation, but in the following verses there is an explanation of the quote, it says in v8-10:
Hebrews 10:8–10 ESV
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
As the author of Hebrews explains the quote, he makes it clear that even though the sacrifices were ordained by God, these are not what God ultimately requires. What God requires is the perfect obedience that only Jesus was able to accomplish. That perfect obedience led Jesus to do what God, The Father planned, that is for Jesus to be offered as a permanent sacrifice in our place. Then it says “He does away with the first in order to establish the second” This is something that the author had already mentioned in chapters 7 and 8; that the former commandments and covenant must give way to the new covenant. But now, the emphasis is on the sacrifices, that the sacrifices of animals must give way to the single sufficient sacrifice of Jesus. It is through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, instead of animals, that we have been sanctified once for all. We often attach to this basic truth our traditions and practices and often equate our traditions with how we worship Jesus as the only way to do so. For example, where I come from you will find all churches empty on Sunday mornings with no church service. However, you will find believers gathering to worship Saturday night and Sunday night. Early missionaries tried to teach Africans and others all the great hymns, but the hymns didn’t fit them. They had to let go and allow God to give them ways to worship as He created them. If you will ever be exposed to a different culture one of the things that you will have to learn is that different is not necessarily wrong. What matters is the substance, the truth in Jesus, and the authority of Scripture. It is through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, instead of animals, that we have been sanctified once for all. We are all so familiar with this truth, that when we hear this we are not amazed. However, this is so amazing that we cannot let our familiarity destroy the gladness and rejoicing over such truth. I once heard that those that live next to the beach are the ones that rarely go to the beach. I can tell you this is true. I once lived for a couple of years in one the most beautiful places I know. The city is famous for its mountains and beaches. Before moving there I thought every time I’d have some free time I’d be enjoying and hiking the mountains and going to the beach. I lived there for two years and there was only one time that I remember that I actually took the time to enjoy the mountains and beach, it was during the last week I was there before I moved away. It seems crazy that I didn’t actually enjoy the place while I was living there. I would see the mountains and the beaches every day, so everything seem to be so familiar that suddenly it wasn’t that interesting anymore, and in the end, it is so easy to be content with just seeing them from a distance. It is pretty sad that I didn’t pause to enjoy God’s creation while I was living in a very amazing place. Everything was so amazing and almost perfect. There are many things in this life that we could get so familiar with that we forget to enjoy and rejoice while we still have it. Like enjoying the kids while they are young, or grandkids. Like marriage and pausing to spend quality time together. However, there is something that is far greater and not almost perfect, but completely perfect that we can get so familiar with that we might be content in seeing from a distance instead of embracing it and taking full advantage of it. Maybe you have heard this amazing truth a thousand times. It is through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, that we have been sanctified once for all. However, is this so familiar that you are content in knowing this from a safe distance? You are close enough but you don’t really want to be one of those Jesus’ freaks. You feel safe doing all the Christian things, coming to church but deep in your heart you know you are not all in. You still want your way, your plan for your life to enjoy the things of this world too. Doing all the right things doesn’t mean you are on good terms with God. Remember God does not delight in sacrifices and offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Furthermore, God is complete, absolutely perfect, and in order for us to be in His presence even attempted perfection is not sufficient. Even if we were not yet born, and have done nothing either good or bad, we still wouldn’t be perfect, because perfection is not only the absence of evil and imperfection, but perfection is perfect righteousness and full obedience to God. Again, Jesus is the substance, Jesus is what matters. We are going to celebrate communion, so I ask you don’t just go through the motions because we are going to do what we always do. As we sing the closing song take the time to consider, to examine your own heart. Paul says in 2 Cor 13:5 “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” Where is your heart? Is it a broken and contrite heart? That longs for Jesus more than anything, or are you content in just “doing the right things” and being an arm’s length away from Jesus. There are no religious practices that can make anyone perfect. However, by faith, with a broken contrite heart that is all in for Jesus, there is perfect reconciliation and forgiveness. Jesus is the substance, Jesus is what matters, everything else is going to vanish away. In the end if you have Jesus, you have it all.
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