Hebrews 10:19-39 - Responding to Jesus’ Sacrifice

Pray

Father, thank you for your Word.

I pray that as we hear it preached now, as we hear your Word proclaimed that you would use it to change us into the likeness of your Son, Jesus through the power of your Spirit living inside of us.

Please use my simple preaching of your Word to do this amazing miracle in each of our hearts, Lord… even mine.

All of us need you to do this, to change us, to transform us to be more and more like Jesus, to live and love like him.

We all want that, but only you can do that in us.

So, please make us more like Jesus through your Word and your Spirit this morning.

It’s in Jesus’ name we pray all of this. Amen.

Intro

We’ve been working our way through the book of Hebrews.

And up to this point the author has been developing an argument that Jesus is better than everything in the old Mosaic Covenant.

He’s a better messenger with a better message, and he’s a better minister with a better ministry.

And the pinnacle of his ministry is his sacrifice.

The main point for the entire book, Jesus’ sacrifice, was just presented in the previous passage.

It’s place, purpose, pattern, and promises are all better than the Old Covenant sacrifices because it actually accomplished what the old sacrifices only depicted.

Now, in our passage in Hebrews 10:19-39, the book shifts from the argument to the application.

In light of Jesus’ superiority to the Old Covenant, his better message and ministry culminating in his better sacrifice, we’re instructed, admonished, and encouraged to respond rightly and enduringly, in worship rather than responding wrongly in sin.

Sometimes our response to Jesus’ sacrifice isn’t what it should be.

Sometimes we respond with selfishness wrongly thinking about what we can get away with because Jesus already paid for our sin.

Sometimes our response comes from forgetting his sacrifice and the pain and cares of life take our focus and we live as if Jesus hasn’t died for our sins.

For the original audience that meant falling back into the rituals and rules of Judaism.

For us that might look like going back to living how we did before we put our faith in Jesus.

Now, because our response to Jesus’ sacrifice can fluctuate so much, God has clearly explained in our passage, in Hebrews 10:19-39, three different responses so that we will be compelled to respond rightly and to keep responding rightly to Jesus’ sacrifice.

He instructs us what the right response is, he admonishes us to avoid the wrong response, and he encourages us toward an enduring right response.

So, first, let’s look at what the right response is in verses 19-25.

Hebrews 10:19–21 ESV

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

Hebrews 10:22–23 ESV

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

So, here we are instructed about…

The Right Response to Jesus’ Sacrifice (19-25)

The right response is based on the truth of the gospel, the truth of the entire argument the author of Hebrews has been building.

Jesus is better, his message is better, and his ministry is better.

And verses 19-21 explain that foundation as a summary of everything the author has been arguing.

The Foundation of our Response: The Gospel (19-21)

We have confidence to enter the holy places.

We have confidence to enter heaven itself, confidence to enter into the very presence of almighty, holy, God.

And we have this confidence, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of what Jesus has done.

We have confidence in the blood of Jesus, not any achievements or status in ourselves.

2 Corinthians 3:4–6 “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Philippians 3:3 “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—”

We have confidence to enter God’s presence by the blood of Christ because he opened the way into God’s presence by offering his human body as our substitute.

When Jesus died the veil in the Temple, the one that symbolically separated sinful people from holy God, that symbolic curtain was torn in half from top to bottom and the way into God’s presence opened.

That symbolic tearing of the curtain indicated spiritual reality.

It wasn’t just that people could now physically walk into the most holy place in the temple.

It was that people could now spiritually enter God’s presence in the heavenly most holy place.

The curtain being torn from top to bottom signifies that it was God himself who opened the way for us through the body of his Son, Jesus.

It’s a new way, not a curtain but a person.

And it’s a living way, again, not a curtain but a person, the person of Jesus Christ who died for our sins, but he rose from the dead three days later, he’s alive, he’s our new and living way into God’s presence.

We also have confidence to enter the heavenly holy places because Jesus is, right now, serving as our great high priest over God’s house.

He’s interceding for us, advocating for us because he already paid the price for our sin.

He’s done all of that, all of what the Old Covenant sacrifices depicted but could never achieve.

So, we can have confidence in him, and confidence in our standing before God.

We’re clean, we’re justified, we’re saved, we’re adopted into God’s family, all because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

That’s the foundation of our right response.

We’ve got to remember all that Jesus’ sacrifice has afforded us so that we will respond rightly, so that our actions will be right, so that we will worship him in spirit and in truth.

That’s what verses 22-25 are about.

The Actions of our Response: Worship (22-25)

Because of all that Jesus is and all that he’s done through his sacrifice.

Let… us… worship him.

There are three main aspects of worship that we can see all throughout the Bible.

Worship is submitting to God and serving him with all that we are because we remember his greatness and goodness.

Submission, Service, and Remembrance.

And we see all three of those along with the three most prominent heart aspects of worship.

You may have heard of these three heart aspects before: faith, hope, and love.

Verse 22 says that because of his sacrifice, let us…

Submit to Jesus in Faith (22)

Let us draw near to God with a true heart and in full assurance of faith.

Drawing near to God is not allowed by God unless your heart has been made true.

And you won’t have the confidence to draw near to him unless you have full assurance of faith, unless you’re sure that you’re allowed to.

Your heart has been made true by the cleansing of Jesus’ blood, and the washing of our bodies with pure water.

The cleansing of Jesus’ blood was depicted in the cleansing rituals of the Old Covenant that we looked at the past two weeks.

And the washing of our bodies with pure water is a reference to the New Covenant articulated in Ezekiel 36:25–26 “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

This is the spiritual cleansing from sin that only Jesus’ precious blood could afford us.

So, we need to submit to Jesus’ authority to dig into our lives and clean house.

To submit is to order yourself under someone’s authority.

And Jesus already has the highest authority.

We need to order ourselves under him and allow him to do his cleansing work in our hearts.

And we need to do that through our faith in him.

We need to believe who he is and what he’s done in order to submit to him in faith.

Because we’ll only be cleansed by him through faith, and we’ll only draw near to God through faith.

We’ve got to believe that Jesus is who he said he is, and that he did what he said he would do, and that because of that and our submission to him and his cleansing power, we’re accepted and called to draw near to God in his holiness.

The next aspect of worship is remembrance.

Verse 23 says that because of his sacrifice, we are to…

Remember Jesus in Hope (23)

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

Hope is directly related to faith as we will see in the next chapter in Hebrews.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Biblical hope is looking forward to the realization of God’s good promises as if they have already happened because they are that sure and that good.

There’s an aspect of faith in that we have to believe what God has said, we have to believe what God has promised in order to have hope.

But the only way we will believe God’s promises is if we remember his faithfulness.

We must hold fast to the confession of our hope…

Why?

Because he who promised is faithful.

Remember Jesus’ faithfulness and your hope will abound.

Remember his faithfulness and hold fast to the confession of your hope.

Remember his faithfulness so that it’s a joy to anticipate his return in glory.

Remember his faithfulness so that the pain and cares of life are overwhelmed by your hope in him.

The next aspect of worship is service.

Verses 24 and 25 say that because of his sacrifice, we are to…

Serve Jesus in Love (24-25)

Specifically, verse 24 says, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.

Now, before we dive into the explanation of this verse, I want to make something crystal clear.

The way that we love and serve Jesus is by loving and serving who he loves; his bride, the Church.

We love Jesus by loving each other.

That’s clearly explained in 1 John 4:20–5:1 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”

So, we love Jesus by loving each other, and verse 24 of our passage says that we are to consider how to do this.

Think about it, dwell on it, consider it.

How are you going to do this with your brothers and sisters in Christ right here at GBC?

The word translated “stir up” is the word par-ox-ous-MOSS, which basically means provocation.

It’s the same word that described Paul and Barnabas’ sharp dispute in Acts 15:39.

The word doesn’t always cary that negative connotation, though.

It’s just the actions of one person affecting the actions of another in a big way.

So, let’s consider how our loving actions can affect the actions of others in the church to be loving and good in a big way.

How can we love and serve each other in a way that makes them want to love and serve as well?

That’s a good thing to think about.

It’s a good thing to seriously consider.

Perhaps you could make a journal of all the people in the church and all the ways you can love and serve those people so that they will also be provoked to love and serve as well.

It’s worth thinking deeply about because all of us are different.

We’re in different situations, we have different personalities, different preferences.

So, one act of love and service to one person may not necessarily be a loving or serving thing to another.

Think about it seriously, and then do it.

Verse 25 basically explains the context these loving and serving actions should take place in.

Personal interactions.

Don’t neglect to meet together.

I don’t think this is specifically referring to the corporate gathering of the local church.

But I think that the general idea here includes it.

Don’t isolate yourself from other believers because your loving and serving interactions with other believers are the way you show your love and service in worship to Jesus because of his sacrifice.

And you can’t do that all by yourself.

We’ve got to meet together on Sunday morning, at prayer meeting on Wednesdays, at Fellowship group on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, in each other’s homes, at the coffee shop, in the hospital, at the ball game, anywhere, everywhere, meet with other believers, meet with each other.

But don’t just meet and talk about whatever.

Meet and talk about Jesus.

Encourage each other in your faith and hope and love.

And all the more because there’s not much time left before Jesus comes back.

As you see the Day drawing near, the Day the Jesus is going to return in glory, encourage each other to love him and each other more and more.

Because the closer that day gets the more the enemy will try to make your faith and hope and love waver and tempt you to fall away.

We need each other to encourage us to hold on to Jesus all the more.

So, we saw what the right response to Jesus’ sacrifice is: worship.

Submitting to Jesus in faith, remembering Jesus in hope, and serving Jesus in love.

Now, let’s look at the other side, the wrong response in verses 26-31.

Hebrews 10:26–27 ESV

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

Hebrews 10:28–29 ESV

Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

Hebrews 10:30–31 ESV

For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

So, here we are admonished to avoid…

The Wrong Response to Jesus’ Sacrifice (26-31)

Again, this is the opposite of the right response.

The opposite of faith, hope, and love.

The opposite of serving Jesus, submitting to Jesus, and remembering Jesus.

Instead of serving Jesus in love because of his sacrifice, the wrong response in verses 26 and 27 is…

Serving Yourself in Presumption (26-27)

Continuing to sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth.

Our sin is essentially serving ourselves at others’ expense, especially at God’s expense because it always against him even if we sin against another person or our sin seems “victimless.”

God has told you clearly what sin is and what righteousness is in his Word.

And a lot of the discernment between sin and righteousness, right and wrong, are built into us.

We instinctively know that murder is wrong, that theft is wrong, that dishonesty and unfaithfulness are wrong.

And what’s worse than doing these wrong things against our own conscience, is doing them in presumption of God’s mercy.

Thinking to yourself, “Jesus already paid for my sin, so I can keep sinning and not have to pay the consequences!”

That’s serving yourself in presumption rather than serving Jesus in love.

That’s the wrong response to Jesus’ sacrifice.

And this level of presumption proves the opposite of what you are presuming in the first place.

Sinning all the more in presumption that Jesus’ sacrifice has been applied to your account proves that his sacrifice hasn’t been applied to your account at all!

You don’t have his sacrifice, all you have is the fearful expectation of judgment for your sin and presumption.

Paul explained this in the passage we read earlier in the service, Romans 6:1–2 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

Another aspect of this wrong response in verses 28 and 29 is the opposite of submission, pride.

Degrading Jesus in Pride (28-29)

Instead of submitting to him in faith, you trample him underfoot and profane the blood of the covenant, and outrage the Spirit of grace.

This prideful degrading of Jesus is worthy of much more severe punishment than anything in the Old Testament.

Verse 28 is a reference to Deuteronomy 17:2–6 which basically says that if anyone is found and proven through witnesses to have ignored God’s Law and done what is contrary to it even though they knew it, then they were to be publicly executed.

Degrading God’s Law in pride was met with capital punishment.

But degrading God’s Son, the New Covenant, and the Holy Spirit is met with eternal punishment, eternal condemnation in hell.

Now, just for the sake of clarity, in verse 29 where it says, “by which he was sanctified,” the “he” there is referring to Jesus.

It’s talking about Jesus’ blood of the covenant by which Jesus himself was sanctified.

I mentioned this last week, but sanctification is simply being set apart for God’s purposes.

Jesus was sanctified through his own blood because as it was shed on the cross, Jesus himself was set apart for God’s purposes of establishing the New Covenant, paying the death penalty for all of us, and cleansing us from our sin and idolatrous defilement.

God the Father set his own Son apart for his purposes of saving us through his blood shed on the cross.

One final aspect of the wrong response in verses 30 and 31 has to do with a lack of remembrance, or ignorance.

Ignoring the Warnings of Scripture (30-31)

Instead of remembering Jesus’ sacrifice in hope, you ignore even the warnings of Scripture in foolishness.

God has said in his Word, it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, and The Lord will judge his people.”

This is a clear reference to Deuteronomy 32:35-36.

God’s people have been warned, we’ve been warned.

Don’t ignore the warning.

Remember it, remember God’s Word, his character, his love and his mercy, but also his justice.

Exodus 34:6-7 says that God is abounding in steadfast love and mercy, but he will by no means clear the guilty.

His vengeance, his justice, is a fearful thing to be on the wrong side of.

It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Remember that, don’t ignore it.

So, the right response is worshipping Jesus by submitting to him in faith, remembering him in hope, and serving him in love.

And the wrong response is just the opposite; it’s worshipping yourself in presumption, pride, and ignorance.

The wrong response can happen from the outset of hearing the gospel.

But it can also happen when we forget the gospel and the pain and cares of life weigh us down and make us want to quit.

That’s what this last section is about: the importance of endurance to keep responding rightly to Jesus’ sacrifice.

So, let’s look together at our need for endurance in verses 32-39.

Hebrews 10:32–33 ESV

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

Hebrews 10:34–35 ESV

For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

Hebrews 10:36–39 ESV

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

So, here we have an encouragement toward…

The Enduring Response to Jesus’ Sacrifice (32-39)

When life is hard, and you are tempted to respond wrongly to Jesus’ sacrifice, tempted to abandon him, we need to endure.

And we do that, we endure by…

Remembering the Past (32-34)

Recall the former days…

when your love for Jesus was so evident in how you loved and served his people,

when you looked forward in hope to receiving God himself as your inheritance,

when you had faith in the character and promises of God and submitted to him rather than shrinking back from him.

I think most of us can think back to a time when our faith, hope, and love for God were strong.

Maybe that time for you is right now, or maybe it was some time in the past.

But when life is hard, and faith, hope, and love for God are difficult to muster up…

Remember the times when they weren’t difficult to muster up.

For the original audience, there was a time when they endured a hard struggle with suffering, being reproached and afflicted and partnering with those who were treated that way.

They were persecuted for Jesus’ sake, but they stood by each other and loved and served each other.

They had compassion on their brothers and sisters in Christ who were thrown in prison.

Their love and service toward each other as the expression of their love and service toward Jesus was strong even though they were going through very hard times.

They are told to remember these times as an encouragement to keep loving Jesus by loving and serving each other even if their difficulties only get worse.

We can also endure through…

Encouragement in the Present (35-36)

The original audience also joyfully accepted the plundering of their property.

Why?

Because they knew that they presently had a better possession and an abiding one.

Peter wrote about the inheritance we are to look forward to in hope in 1 Peter 1:3–4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 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,”

Jesus also spoke about this inheritance that can’t be stolen or fade away in Matthew 6:19–20 ““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Our better possession, our abiding possession, is our inheritance in heaven, God himself, eternal life in his loving and infinitely satisfying presence forever.

That’s way better than any earthly possession that will fade away and disappear.

Better than owning your home.

Better than a nice car.

Better than a stable 401K.

Better than all the stuff we surround ourselves with on a daily basis.

In Philippians chapter 3, Paul was speaking about his spiritual achievements but the principle is the same as what we’re talking about here.

In Philippians 3:8 he wrote, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ”

It’s all rubbish compared to Jesus, it’s all worthless compared to his infinite worth.

We also endure through…

Assurance of the Future (37-39)

Remember what faith is.

We’re going to talk about it quite a bit next week.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

In remembering your love for Jesus and your present encouragement to hope in obtaining the eternal inheritance, the goal is to reignite your faith.

Don’t throw away your confidence in Jesus, your faith in him, because your faith has a great reward.

What’s that reward?

Again, it’s our eternal inheritance, what God has promised, living in his loving and satisfying presence forever.

But in order to obtain that, we need to endure, our faith needs to endure.

But it doesn’t endure because of any strength of will or mental of spiritual effort on our part.

We endure in our faith because God gives us the strength to endure.

And he gives us the strength to endure by reminding us of the very things we’ve been lookin at here in Hebrews.

God gives us strength to endure by reminding us of how he has comforted others through our loving and serving our brothers and sisters in Christ, and how God has comforted us through them as well.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

God gives us strength to endure by calling to our minds the infinite value of our inheritance in him, and how we won’t have to wait very long to receive it, but we have to remain faithful in order to receive it.

Haggai 2:6 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.”

Habakkuk 2:3–4 “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”

God gives us strength to endure, to keep our faith rooted in him rather than drifting all over the place.

God gives us strength to endure because our identity is in him.

We’re not identified as people who run away from God, we’re identified as children of God who run to him in faith and preserve our souls because of his power and protection over us.

That’s who we are!

And that’s who he is!

And we can have assurance of our future because of who we are in him and who he is.

Conclusion

So, consider Jesus’ sacrifice and respond rightly, not wrongly, and keep responding rightly until the end.

Respond in worship.

Submit to Jesus in humble faith, rather than degrading him in pride.

Remember Jesus’ sacrifice in hope, rather than ignoring it and the warnings of Scripture in foolishness.

Serve Jesus in love by serving and loving each other, rather than serving only yourself in presumption of God’s mercy.

And keep responding this way, keep responding in worship even when life is hard.

Keep enduring to the end by remembering your past worship of Jesus, being encouraged of your present possession of your eternal inheritance, God himself, and being assured of your future, living in God’s infinitely loving and satisfying presence forever.

Now, maybe you’ve never responded to Jesus’ sacrifice in worship like this.

If you hear the truth of the gospel, the good news of Jesus’ sacrifice, that he died in your place so that you could be forgiven and adopted into God’s family…

If you hear that and you believe, and you trust Jesus to be your savior, and you submit to his rule in your life, then you are saved.

I feel like I bring up this verse every week, but it’s an important one, and a clear description of how a person is saved.

Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Submit to Jesus as Lord by confessing that he is your Lord with your mouth, your own words.

And submitting to him means that you now take his orders as your authority, you order yourself under his authority and live the way he wan’t you to live.

That includes repenting of your sinful self-serving lifestyle, turning away from that to live for and serve Jesus as your Lord.

Also, believe in your heart that he became a man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead.

That’s it.

That’s all you need to do to be saved because Jesus has done everything else.

Pray

Father, thank you for explaining to us the right response to your Son’s sacrifice for us.

Please help us respond rightly, and help us continue to respond rightly.

Help us worship you in submission, service, and remembrance.

Help us submit to you in humble faith rather than degrading you in pride.

Help us serve you in love by serving each other in love rather than only serving ourselves and presuming upon your mercy.

And help us remember and never forget the amazing gift of salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice.

Lord, help us continue to respond this way because all of us are weak, all of us need your strength to endure, all of us need your comfort, your encouragement, your protection.

We all want to endure, we all want to worship, we all want to respond rightly, but we need you to do that.

Apart from you, none of us would respond rightly, all of us would be dead in our sin.

We need you, so I pray that you would do a work in our hearts and give us that strength to understand your love, and to remain steadfast in our faith and hope in your Son, Jesus.

It’s in his name we pray. Amen.