heb1001_18

Title:

Passage: Hebrews 10:1-18

INTRODUCTION

1.    This passage summarizes what the author has been developing all the way back to 9:1.

2. 

I.     The Law Can Never Perfect Because of           Things (Heb. 10:1-4)

A. The OT offerings had no end (2a)

There was never any expectation on the part of the people that the sacrifices would end.  They went on and on.  Day in, day out, year in, year out, the people brought the sacrifices to the priest at the tabernacle and the temple from the day they were instituted in the wilderness until the time of Christ.

B. The OT offerer was conscious of sins even after the offering (Heb. 10:2)

(This brings up an interesting question:. . .)

1.       Does this mean the believer should not be conscious of sins?  Is there a difference in the OT system from the New that says that the believer should now have no consciousness of sins?  What do you say?

a.    The answer is Yes!  Only in the New Covenant can we find the words that God has forgiven and will remember no more.  It was only a promise in OT times.   But in Christ that promise is fulfilled.

b.    Look at 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (NASB). 

c.    What does that say?    When we confess our sins two things happen.  God forgives the sins, but He also cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

d.    Do you believe that?  How many times have you confessed sin to God and come away still feeling guilty about it?  Why is that?  You are listening to the “father of lies.”  It should not be your conscience convicting you.  God certainly isn’t convicting you.

e.    The OT believer had no permanent cleansing.  The offerings he made only covered sins committed unintentionally.  He didn’t have his conscience cleansed, just temporarily soothed.

f.     Walking by faith, you ought to be able to walk away from this confession time with God, and feel perfectly free.  There should be no feeling of guilt, unworthiness, rejection, or condemnation, should there?  Should there?

2.    Another question: Are the following statements true?

a.    You are justified (declared righteous) by God (Ro. 5:1)

b.    You are united / one spirit with Christ (1 Cor.  6:17)

c.    You are a member of Christ’s body (1 Cor.  12:27)

d.    You will never be condemned by God (Rom.  8:1)

e.    You are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor.  3:16)

f.     You are a new creation.  (2 Cor.  5:17)

g.    You are God’s workmanship (Eph.  2:10)

h.    You are a child of God (John 1:12) 

i.     You are a saint.  (Eph. 1:1)

3. Are you a sinner saved by grace or a saint who sins?/

4.       Romans 12:3 says we are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment.  It would be interesting to study the New Testament and see how many times the writers affirm the identity of the readers.  How many times to they address the readers in some descriptive way, and how many times do they speak to the readers directly about who they are.  There must be some reason for that.  It’s because they are new creatures, and how they percieve themselves will have everything to do with how they behave.

5.       (Why was the OT believer conscious of sins?)

C. Because the OT offerings were in fact reminder of sins (3)  The sacrificial system was as much a reminder of sins as a remedy.  Galatians tells us that the Law was like a schoolmaster.  It wasn’t intended to perfect us, but to show us how imperfect we were.  James calls is a mirror.  It reflects what we look like.  Paul says “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in [God’s] sight, but through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

D. Animal blood could not take away sins (4)

The writer has already made this point.  The blood of animals could only serve as a pointer to what God would ultimately do.  It was a type of which Christ was the antitype.  But God required something much more to satisfy Him.  He required an infinite sacrifice to deal with infinite sin.  And animals would never be able to do that./

(So . . .)

II.   What the Law Could Not Do, Jesus Did -- He Took Away the Law and Established Himself as its Fulfillment, Sanctifying the Believer (5-9)

A. He replaced Sacrifice with His Body

B.    He replaced the Law with His Obedience

III. 

A. The Result is that, by God’s will, Jesus has sanctified all believers with one sacrifice (10-13).

1.       Priests stand daily (minister) ; Jesus sat (11-12)

2.       Priests in the tabernacle ; Jesus in the Presence (12)

3.       Priests ministering; Jesus awaiting His Enthronement (13)

B. The Result is that Jesus has perfected all believers for all time (14-17)

1.       Perfected for all time

2.       The New Covenant confirms it

IV.  Therefore there is no more sacrifice to be made (18)

This is a confusing verse to many.  Some think it says that you can lose your salvation.  If you blow it, your goose is cooked.  There is no sacrifice for you, buddy.  But isn’t it pretty clear from the context here that this is something quite different?  Let’s try to paraphrase: Since Jesus became the perfect, complete, and all-satisfying sacrifice, the sacrificial system is over and done with--there is no longer any sacrifice for sins.