Sermon Tone Analysis

Last Week We Dealt with Hebrews 10:1-10

There the Author Spoke of How Jesus Took Away the Old System of Atonement and Established a New One

The Old System Relied on Animals Sacrifices

But the New System Relies on Jesus’ Sacrifice

Through Jesus’ Sacrifice We Have Been Sanctified/Made Holy/Set Apart for the Purposes of God

Hebrews 10:11–18 (NLT)

Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.

But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time.

Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet.

For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so.

For he says, “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.”

And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

Hebrews 10:11–14 (NASB95)

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.

For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

Our Author is Bringing a Dramatic End to the Main Point of His Sermon

The High Priest of the Old System Stands Daily, Repeatedly Performing the Service of Atonement for the People

But His Ministry and Sacrifices Could Never Take Away Sins

Those Who Stand are the Servants

Jesus On the Other Hand Sits at the Right Hand of God

Sitting Represents 2 Things Here:

1.) His Ministry of Atonement is Complete

It Only Took His One Sacrifice to Take Away Sins Forever

2.) His Equality of Authority with God

Jesus is Not a Servant, But a Priest King

In Talking About Jesus Sitting at the Right Hand of God…

Our Author Quotes Again From Psalm 110

(One of His Most Used Passages to Make His Points About Jesus Being High Priest)

Jesus is Sitting and Waiting for the End of the Age When He Will Conquer All of His Enemies

I Like the Way the NLT Puts Verse 14:

Hebrews 10:14 (NLT)

For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

It Does a Better Job at Focusing On the Tenses of the Verbs

By Jesus’ One Offering He “Forever Made Perfect”

“Perfect” is in the “Perfect Tense”

Meaning it was Something Done in the Past that Has a Lasting Result in the Present

Because Jesus Offered Himself as a Sacrificial Offering for Our Sins in the Past…

We Experience the Result of that Sin Offering in the Present

We are Now Experiencing the Desired End

We are Justified/Made Righteous and are Given Access to God

Perfection/Justification is Available for Those Who are “Being Made Holy”

“Being Made Holy” is in the “Present Tense”

Something that is Still in the Process of Happening

Jesus Has Already Justified Those Who are Actively Being Sanctified/Made Holy By the Spirit

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NASB95)

Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 (NASB95)

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

We are Justified/Made Righteous/Declared Innocent…

When We Place Our Faith in Jesus

But Sanctification/Growing in Holiness is a Life-Long Process

It is Made Possible By the Holy Spirit Who Lives in Us

And as Long as We are Growing in Holiness Through the Spirit…

We Remain Justified/Righteous/Innocent

What Does it Mean to Live a Holy Life?

To Follow the Spirit’s Guidance in Doing the Will of God

To Do What is Right and Abstain From What is Wrong

To Be Like Jesus and Not Like the World

Those Who Actively are Being Sanctified/Growing in Holiness are Those Who Remain Justified

Hebrews 10:15–18 (NASB95)

And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, And on their mind I will write them,” He then says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

This Quote of Jeremiah 31 Forms an Inclusio (Literary Bookends for a Topic)

The Author Quoted From Jeremiah 31 in Chapter 8

He Did This to Introduce the Topic of the New Covenant…

And How Sins Will Be Completely Forgotten Through the High Priestly Sacrifice of Jesus

Now He Quotes Jeremiah Again to Bring an End to the Topic

Just as Jeremiah Prophesied:

Because of Jesus, Sins are Forever Forgiven

There’s No More Need to Worry About Them Ever Separating Us From God Again

That Ends the Theological Portion of the Book of Hebrews

We’ve Focused On How Jesus is Superior in So Many Wonderful Ways

Especially as it Pertains to His Superior New Covenant…

In Which He is the Superior Royal High Priest After the Order of Melchizedek…

Where His Superior Sacrificial Work Fully Atones for Our Sins…

So that We Can Have a Clear Conscience, Knowing Our Sins are Forgiven and Forgotten

Now it’s Time to Enter the “So What” Section of the Book

Now that I Know All of this Information About My High Priest, Jesus…

And What He Has Done, is Doing, and Will Do for My Salvation…

What Am I Supposed to Do About it?

Hebrews 10:19–25 (NLT)

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.

By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.

And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.

For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:19–21 (NASB95)

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

The Author Begins By Recapping the Blessings We Have Because of Jesus Priestly/Sacrificial Service for Us

We Can Confidently Enter the Holy Place By the Blood of Jesus

There was Only Fear of the Presence of God Under the Old System

But Through Jesus’ Perfect Atoning Sacrifice, We Can Have Confidence in God’s Presence

His Sacrifice Inaugurated a New and Living Way Through the Veil of His Flesh

This Way to the Presence of God is “New”

Until Jesus’ High Priestly Ministry for Humanity…