Once And For All

Things that you would rather not have to do, but you have to keep doing them over and over again

Weeding the garden

Cleaning the house

On a serious note, history keeps repeating itself too. In history—things keep happening over and over again

WW1 was called the war to end all wars

But only 20 years later, the world was plunged into a war more terrible and costly than the first

There is at least one thing in history that will never have to be done again

And for that, we should be profoundly grateful

Last week, we ended on this verse:

English Standard Version Chapter 9

13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

PRAY

English Standard Version Chapter 9

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Therefore: a conclusion made from this statement

Because of this incredible truth

Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant

Mediator

A go-between in the case of a conflict

Someone who brings two sides together

Because Christ is called a mediator, what does that imply?

it implies that there was indeed a conflict between two parties

Between God and mankind

We had no way of upholding our end of the old covenant

And so we needed a mediator

New Covenant

This Mediator, Jesus Christ, didn’t just try to step into the Old Covenant and make it work somehow

Rather, God established a New Covenant, and said, now I need a mediator, or a lawyer, or an advocate to negotiate the terms of that covenant

that was Jesus

“So that”

there was a reason that God established a new Covenant

and there was a reason that Jesus became the Mediator of this new covenant

it was this: so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance

Those who are called. Are you called? Have you been called by God? If not before, then you are now!

If you have been called then there is an inheritance waiting for you. An eternal one

1 Peter 1:3-4 According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

At it’s right around this point the preacher starts talking some differing language, so it seems

In my translation, he starts talking about a will in verse 16

and it’s connected to this whole idea of an inheritance

which makes sense, right? Because as we understand a will, it is that document that spells out the inheritance

What has to happen in order for someone to receive an inheritance?

what has to happen for a will to go into effect?

someone, the benefactor, has to die

The prodigal son demanded his inheritance, basically conveying his wish that his father was dead

Now, at this point, we might be scratching our heads a little bit, and thinking, “I thought we were talking about a covenant. That’s the word that we have been using all along. We’ve been talking about a covenant.

Now, we are talking about a will

So, are we talking about a covenant, or a will?

The answer is, “yes.” We are talking about both

It’s the exact same Greek word that is used

Covenant

Testament

Will

It’s an agreement, or a contract, or a treaty

When we are talking about the new testament and the old testament, we could call it, new covenant and old covenant, or new will and old will

His point is this:

in order for this will to go into effect, in order for us to receive our inheritance, which our Father really wants us to receive

there has to be a death

And, he says here, even the first covenant, or the old covenant, needed death to put it into effect

verses 18-21

That was what the sacrifices were signifying. A death which put the will or the covenant into effect

And they would take the blood and some water, and some scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkle this blood

on the Book of the Law, the tabernacle, and all the objects used in worship

Signifying that these objects were part of making this covenant effective because they had entered into the blood, or the death

The blood was so important, that he says this in verse 22: without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

the covenant cannot go into effect unless there is death

And forgiveness of sins is the heart of this will or covenant

Remember what God said through the prophet Jeremiah:

“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

this is the heart of the covenant—the forgiveness of sins

Now, question:

when someone dies, and a will goes into effect, is that temporary or permanent?

Permanent (as permanent as things can be on this earth)

People only die once, right?

And because of that, the will is also enforced once

But as we think about the old covenant, or the old will, was that the case? Was there only one death, and was the will or the covenant only enacted once?

No, it was over and over again

Every time a sin offering was offered, every time the high priest went into the holy of holies to make atonement

it was like the will was being enacted all over again

Verse 23

This was necessary

They were copies, not the real thing

BUT!

The heavenly things were purified with a better sacrifice

Because Christ entered into the heavenly tent (not made with hands) to appear, not in front of a mercy seat built with hands were God chose to put His presence

but into the very presence of God

on our behalf.

Verse 25

and He did not have to offer Himself repeatedly

Because if He did, He would also have to suffer repeatedly

If He did have to suffer repeatedly, or die, His blood would have been no more effective than the blood of animals

But He didn’t have to do any of that, because the sacrifice which He brought was perfect

spotless, faultless,

effective in a way that the blood of animals could never be

Verse 26

But here’s what He did

He appeared once for all.

To put away sin by sacrificing Himself

nestled in this verse is one of the greatest declarations in the entire Scripture!

Christ appeared once for all

For all the sins

For all people

For all time, from the beginning of time to the end of time

And it wasn’t just for the forgiveness of sins, although praise the Lord, He did come to forgive sins

But look what is says here in this verse:

He appeared once for all to set aside sin by sacrificing Himself

That phrase set aside sin gives us a legal picture

it’s like a divorce. It’s a breaking or annulling of a covenant

You could say that He appeared once and for all to break the power of sin

the picture is this: Jesus came to establish a New Covenant—the forgiveness of sins

and when that Covenant was established, it broke or annulled the hold of an old covenant

that is, the power of sin

in the old covenant, there was the forgiveness of sins, yes. But there wasn’t the setting aside of sin. There was nothing in the old covenant that broke the power of sin

Sin, the bible teaches is like a slave master, or someone who has legal power over us

and you can be as good as you can, and try to do all the good works that you can, but sin still has a hold on you

it is a hold or legal binding that needs to be annulled or set aside

But that is what Jesus did through the New Covenant. He broke that agreement with sin or that covenant

He set it aside

And in so doing, He grants us the power to also participate in breaking the power of sin in our lives

And certainly, we recognize this, don’t we

The other NT writers use the same kind of language when they say things like

Ephesians 4:22–24 – “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires… and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:9–10 – “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

Put off, put away sin. Divorce yourself from the power of sin.

This is language that you never read in the OT when folks were still under the old covenant. Why? Because it wasn’t possible!

Jesus had not appeared to make it possible

But now it is possible! How is it possible for us to put away sin, and to put on a new creation?

Because Jesus appeared, and HE put away sin by sacrificing Himself

And that changes EVERTHING.

And even more so, because Christ’s sacrifice was once

For all sins

there is no sin that you or I have committed that is too great to be covered by His sacrifice

And you don’t have to come up with a different sacrifice depending on the type of sin that you have committed

for all people

in the OT, the sacrifices were for the Jewish people, God’s chosen people

But Jesus came for ALL people

His sacrifice is effective for all who believe and receive what He has done

He isn’t a “white man’s God”, as I used to hear growing up on the mission field

for all time

His sacrifice is not just effective until the next year on the day of atonement

The power of His blood sacrifice does not wear out or ever become ineffective

This is the best news ever!

Because we also should come to an agreement that we are going to put away sin.

Sin is not going to reign in my body anymore!

I’m not talking about living a life of absolute perfection

But rather, that we don’t live in bondage to sin any more

This is why the NT writers use such strong language warning us about continuing in wilful sin after we have received His blood sacrifice

Romans 6:1–2 “1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

1 John 3:5–6 “5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.”

Receiving Christ who came to set sin aside, and then continuing in wilful disobedience simply don’t add up

But, I think you and I know that it is far too easy for us to do this

We receive Christ, but, in our minds, we don’t receive the power of His sacrifice

And we wait for something to happen, and meanwhile we just keep on doing what we were doing

Without realizing that His sacrifice has given us the power to say “no” to sinful desires

And this is why the book of Hebrews contains some of the most strongly worded warnings in the Bible

6:4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Why is this such an awful thing?

Because continued sin denies the entire power of the new covenant

It’s like saying I know that Jesus will suffer and die over and over again for me

it’s like saying, His blood is as worthless as that of a goat

Folks, Jesus came and died once for all.

I urge us to not make a mockery of His sacrifice by continuing in willful sin

Folks, this message this morning is not meant to knock us over the head for struggles that we have in our lives

but rather, to open our hearts in a new way to the truth that we already know

And to exhort us to holiness and close fellowship with Jesus

This is why it is so important for us to walk closely with Him in the power of the Spirit

The Holy Spirit’s job is to point those things out to us

Galatians 5:16 “16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

This is why it is so important to be connected to a body of Believers

Many times my eyes are blind to my own faults in sins

because other Believers can see those sinful patterns in my life

Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ

Pay attention to that word, “law”. That is, the law of love

The same kind of love that Jesus had for us by paying the sacrifice to restore us into fellowship with our Father

Jesus died once for all, for me, for you, and for the whole world

This morning, He is inviting you into that new covenant

He is calling you into fellowship with your Heavenly Father