Perfection Achieved!

PERFECTION ACHIEVED! Spring Valley Mennonite; February 23, 2020; Hebrews 10:1-18 When we first moved to Kansas from Texas, we lived in a house right on Ridge Road a mile south of Hesston. When cars and trucks leaving Hesston passed our house, they had gotten up to speed. Early one summer morning I was in our front yard when a large truck roared by. As our house faced East and the sun was still low in the sky, the truck cast a tall shadow across the yard. The noise of the truck and its shadow startled me, but it was quickly past and of course, the shadow was harmless. What passed across the yard was not the truck, but just the shadow. One thing about a shadow though, the shadow was cast by something that was real. The Old Mosaic Covenant was only a shadow of the reality to come. In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the Law. We have in our text this morning the author’s conclusion of his comparison of the Old Covenant with the New, the shadow with the reality which has come. Read Hebrews 10:1-4. I. THE IMPERFECT SHADOW OF THE REALITY The goal of redemption is to remove the barrier of sin which separates man from His God. The ability to “draw near” to God did not exist under the Old Covenant, demonstrated by the veil in the Tabernacle and Temple. The High Priest alone had extremely limited access to God on the Day of Atonement when he sprinkled the sacrificial blood on the mercy seat. And this ritual was repeated year after year after year. The daily morning and evening sacrifices, as well as the sin offerings of the people demonstrated the continual need for sin to be covered. The question arises in our mind, “If the Law was imperfect, why did God give it?” Although imperfect, the Law had value. I find four main reasons the Law was given: 1. The Law pointed toward the reality. A shadow indicates that something solid is casting the shadow. It is instructive that the Old Testament contains numerous passages that succinctly state the inadequacy of sacrifice: for example, Psalm 51:16-17: “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” We remember Micah’s famous words, “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:6–8) Moses himself spoke of a future Prophet in Deuteronomy 18:15: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.” Jesus brought about the reality behind the shadow. 2. Secondly, the Law and its sacrifices reminded the people that the penalty of sin is death. Sin was costly: when a person sinned, it cost him his best ram or bull. Although the animal blood only covered the sin, it demonstrated that sin caused death. 3. Thirdly, although sacrifice only covered sin, it alleviated punishment for that sin. At best it was an acknowledgment of guilt and a desire to have that sin covered. 4. And fourthly, the Law defined God’s standards and taught man that he was a sinner. Galatians 3:22 states, “But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Verse 24: Therefore, the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ that we may be justified by faith. The Law and its continual sacrifices essentially reminded people of their sinfulness. Those daily and yearly sacrifices in reality memorialized the imperfection of the Law as they needed to be repeated over and over and over. As verse 4 states, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins!” II. THE REALITY APPEARS Note the “therefore in verse 5.” Because animal sacrifice could never take away the barrier of sin, Jesus came. Verses 5-7 are a heavenly conversation between the Pre-Incarnate Son of God and the Father and recorded by the Holy Spirit: Read vv. 5-7. These words are from King David in Psalm 40 but reflect the thoughts of our Lord as He articulates God’s plan for the redemption of man. The Holy Spirit puts the words of the Son into the mind of King David to record. The Incarnation and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was not “Plan B” after sin came into the world, but within the Mystery of the eternal God, knowing His highest creation would fall into sin, the Divine Sacrifice was proclaimed. Revelation 13:8 tells us that Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the Earth. Because the animal sacrifices could not take away the sins, the Son of God took on a body, human flesh, so He could be the ultimate sacrifice. God cannot die, but the God-man, Jesus Christ could die. It was according to God’s Plan from before man ever sinned to send the Son. How could this be? This is difficult to understand for we who exist and are limited by time but understand that God is not so limited. God’s Plan of Redemption, the suffering and death of Jesus to provide the atoning sacrifice was God’s will from the beginning, and the Son came to do the Father’s will. What is God’s will? Our redemption won through the shed blood of Jesus. John 6:38: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” God chose us to be the objects of His love and redemption even before the world began: Ephesians 1:4-6 “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace.” Read vv. 8-14. III. THE COMING OF THE NEW REPLACES THE OLD Verse 9: He takes away the first, the Old Covenant, in order to establish the second. Both cannot exist at the same time. Those who desired to mix the old and the new were foolish at best, and in danger of missing the truth at worst. To hang on to the old system of animal sacrifices and to believe that those same sacrifices are superseded is illogical. It makes no sense! It would be like preferring a picture of a loved one to the real thing. Because Jesus was obedient to the Father’s Will (not My will but Your will be done, as Jesus prayed in the Garden) we who believe have been sanctified—made holy, set apart—through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. It is a completed work; nothing remains to be done. Salvation is neither earned nor deserved but is solely a gift of grace from God. The Priests continually were offering sacrifices and ministering in the earthly Temple; Jesus offered the ultimate and final sacrifice AND SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. What is Jesus doing right now? He is waiting until the Father says, “It is time for You to return. The numbers of those comprising Your Bride are complete. All who have been chosen will have believed. It is time for every knee to bow to You, the conquering King. Return to earth and take Your place on the Throne of David.” MacArthur explains “the enemies being made a footstool” in these words: “Christ’s sacrifice was effective because it conquered His enemies. All the sacrifices of the Old Testament did nothing to get rid of Satan. They had absolutely no effect on him at all, nor on the godless demons and people who served him. But when Jesus died on the cross, He dealt a deathblow to all His enemies. First of all, He conquered “him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). Second, He also triumphed over all the other fallen angels (Col. 2:14–15). Third, He disarmed and triumphed over all rulers and authorities of all ages who have rejected and opposed God (Col. 2:15). He is now only waiting until all His enemies be made a footstool, that is, until they acknowledge His lordship by bowing at His feet (Phil. 2:10).1 Philippians 2:10: “That at the name of Jesus, “every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth.” When Christ returns in triumph at the end of the Tribulation Period, all the enemies of God will in defeat bow at the feet of Jesus. They will be fighting a battle which has already been decided. Jesus wins! IV. THE FINAL SACRIFICE HAS BEEN OFFERED; FORGIVENESS IS OURS Read vv. 15-18. The promises of the New Covenant have been fulfilled. There would be no point in offering sacrifices, for the final and perfect sacrifice has been offered. What was pictured and prophesied of in the Old Testament has become reality. Believers have been given, by grace through faith, a new heart. Instead of on stone tablets, God has written His Law upon our hearts. This means that we have an inward motivation in heart and mind to follow God’s way. Our inner conscience has been enlivened and when we sin, our conscience now speaks to us. God’s work of grace is beautifully described in Ephesians 2:1-10 in the New Living Translation: “Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so very much that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ form the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that we have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown by all he has one for us through Christ Jesus. God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good thing he planned for us long ago.”2 We have full access to God through our great High Priest who offered once for all the final and perfect sacrifice. As verse 18 states, there is no longer any offering for sins, for Jesus died as that final sacrifice. We are forgiven!