Our Once For All Sacrifice

And if you would open up your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10, I'm going to read through verses 1-18.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

! We are starting to see the end of Hebrews in the distance.

So Hebrews 10, 1-18, hear God's word.

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities,

it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins.

But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said,

Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me.

In burnt offerings and in sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.

When He said above, You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings.

These are offered according to the law.

Then He added, Behold, I have come to do your will.

He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest stands daily at the service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God,

waiting from that time until His enemy should be made a footstool for His feet.

For by a single offering, He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us for after saying,

This is the covenant that I will make with them.

After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds.

Then He adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering of sin.

May God bless the hearing of His word.

Can you guess which virus this is I'm about to describe?

You've got a child or a grandchild with an itchy rash around the trunk of their body.

And then they start itching it.

They start, boop, boop, boop, boop.

You know what that is, don't you?

Chicken pox.

The symptoms of chicken pox are pretty easy to cite.

Do you know what the symptoms of legalism are?

Legalism is the belief that your eternal standing with God

is dependent upon your personal present obedience.

Legalism says your eternal standing before God depends on your daily obedience to God.

Legalism is a toxic distortion of the gospel of grace.

It says God's grace can save you plus something else, your obedience.

And the thing about this toxic distortion of legalism is that it's unhealthy for a Christian.

It's unhealthy for a church.

It can be oppressive.

It can puff up some people while totally kind of suffocating others.

It's a subtle shift of dependence off of the risen Christ and onto yourself.

So how do you know if you've got legalistic tendencies?

Well, do you have a tendency of thinking that your eternal standing before God

depends upon whether you're having a daily quiet time, reading your Bible,

or you're getting to church every Sunday?

Do you think that your eternal standing with God depends upon your up-to-date confession of sin?

In other words, if you were to die and not have confessed all of your sin,

do you think that your eternal salvation would be in jeopardy?

Maybe you think that your eternal standing with God is in jeopardy every time you sin.

Maybe you think that your eternal standing with God depends on kind of what's more in the columns.

More good works than evil works.

The thinking is, if I have more good works than evil works, then I'm in right standing with God.

Is that what you're thinking?

That's not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Do you think that your salvation depends in any way on your obedience,

on your performance, on your repeated sacrifices day after day, year after year?

Your eternal standing before God depends solely on the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ.

The antidote to legalism is this once-for-all sacrifice of Christ.

And so here's what I'm going to try to convince you of from Hebrews 10, 1-18 this morning.

Here it is.

Hold fast to Christ and say good riddance to legalism.

Kick it to the curb.

In Hebrews 10, 1-18,

the author of Hebrews is kind of wrapping up a line of argument that he started in chapter 8.

He's been making a case that the new covenant is better than the old covenant

because the new covenant can actually rid you of all your sins

where the old covenant couldn't.

And remember, he's writing to a church that was suffering for Christ

and they were being tempted to go back to the ineffective animal sacrifices of the old covenant.

We're tempted to go back to the ineffective offerings of legalism,

thinking that is what makes us right with God.

And so there are two reasons from this text

why you should hold fast to Christ and kick legalism to the curb.

Reason number one, Christ's superior sacrifice.

And reason number two, Christ's superior priesthood.

So let's look now at these two points from this passage,

starting with Christ's superior sacrifice.

The book of Hebrews is one long exhortation to hold fast to Christ all the way to the end.

And one of the repeated kind of tools that the author of Hebrews uses to help exhort us

is by comparing and contrasting.

And so again and again, he shows us that Christ is better.

Again and again, Christ is superior of all different sorts.

And here in chapter 10, verses 1 through 10,

we have a comparison of sacrifices.

Let's look at the inferior sacrifice first.

It's spelled out in verses 1 through 4.

It starts with a reference to the law.

For since the law, the law of Moses,

has but a shadow of the good things to come,

of the true form of these realities.

The law of Moses is talking about the Ten Commandments,

all of the commandments spelled out in the first five books of the Bible.

And what we're being told here is that the law of Moses and the commanded sacrifices,

they're but a shadow of the good things to come.

If you look back at chapter 9, verse 11, we read this.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,

you see, the good things to come was Christ and all that he offered.

And somehow the law of Moses would point to him.

It was a shadow of the good things to come.

But it wasn't the good things.

And so that little phrase, the true form of these realities,

instead of the true form of these realities,

what it's getting at is the law of Moses and its sacrificial system.

It lacked substance.

The one who would come with the good things,

there's where the substance is.

And what is striking is what we read in verse 1,

the law and its commandments,

it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year,

make perfect those who draw near.

This is shocking.

The writer of Hebrews is saying that the law of Moses and all of its commands

and all of its sacrifices,

it's all of the Levitical priests,

all of what they were doing day after day,

was ineffective.

Powerless.

To make perfect those who draw near.

When the writer of Hebrews is using that made perfect language,

he's talking about being cleansed from your sin,

of having your sins fully taken away,

of knowing that you've been completely and fully forgiven by God,

that there's no condemnation for you.

God's wrath has been satisfied.

That's the point of verse 2.

If these animal sacrifices of the law of Moses

could actually cleanse your conscience,

then they would cease being offered.

But they were being offered day after day.

They were ineffective.

What they were effective at is reminding people of their sins.

Verse 3.

But they're ineffective because it's impossible

for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

That blood, that death lacked power.

When we apply this to our legalistic thinking,

when you think that your daily devotions,

your weekly church attendance,

doing more good than evil,

even the frequent confessing of your sins,

when you think that these are the things

that keep me saved,

you're making a mistake.

None of these has the power to take away your sins.

In verses 1-4, we have this

inferior sacrifices of the old covenant.

They're ineffective.

They're powerless.

And then in verses 5-10 comes the contrast.

Comes Christ's superior sacrifice.

In verse 5,

oh man,

the author of Hebrews does some crazy stuff here.

Remember in chapter 10, verse 1,

where he starts?

He starts by saying,

for since the law has but a shadow of the good things.

Look where he starts in verse 5.

Consequently, when Christ came into the world,

he said,

he said,

whatever he's about to say,

it trumps the law of Moses.

Jesus said,

I came not to abolish the law,

but to fulfill it.

If you would flip back to the beginning,

the very first two verses of the book of Hebrews,

here's what's going on right here.

Long ago at many times,

and in many ways,

God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

Moses being one of them.

But in these last days,

he has spoken to us by his son.

That's what's going on here.

It's Christ's final word on the matter.

And what the author of Hebrews does is,

he puts the final word as fulfillment.

He has Jesus speaking

from Psalm chapter 40,

Psalms 40:6–8

verses 6 through 8,

a Psalm of David.

And he's saying like,

this has been fulfilled.

It's in the mouth of Jesus.

And we read,

sacrifices and offerings

you have not desired,

but a body you have prepared for me.

In burnt offerings

and in sin offerings,

you have taken no pleasure.

When David wrote that,

he was talking about being

his heart fully unto God.

When the author of Hebrews

has Jesus saying that,

what he's saying

is something monumental,

a huge paradigm shift.

He's saying that

all of the Old Testament sacrifices

are now obsolete.

God takes no more delight

in them.

These were in reference

to the sacrifices

of the Old Testament.

In verse 7,

we read,

then I said,

behold,

I have come to do your will,

O God,

as it is written of me

in the scroll of the book.

That's David

originally saying,

I've come to do your will

as your king.

It's been written me

of the scroll of the book,

probably Deuteronomy 17,

these instructions to a king,

with Jesus saying it.

He's coming to do the will of God

to save all who would believe in him,

to establish a forever kingdom.

Do you remember when Jesus was in Gethsemane

and he said,

not my will,

but your will be done to his father?

Do you remember Isaiah 53.10

that says,

it was the will of the Lord

to crush him?

This will is God's will

and Jesus came to do it

and by him quoting Psalm 40,

6-8,

what the author of Hebrews is doing

is he's saying,

this is the one,

the descendant of David,

David's greater son.

Remember Psalm 110,

the Lord said,

to my Lord?

And the sacrifices,

there's a shift.

In verse 5,

we read,

but a body have you prepared for me.

This is talking about sacrifices.

And so in the words of Christ,

it's his body

that God has prepared.

It's a better sacrifice.

A once for all,

single,

for all time

sacrifice.

So what the author of Hebrews

is doing here

in extraordinary fashion

is he has Christ

speaking

Psalm 40,

6-8

in order to demonstrate

he's the final word

on the topic of sacrifice.

Because he is the sacrifice.

Maybe the question

needs to become this.

Why was it impossible

for the blood of goats

and bulls

to take away sin?

But why is it

that this single,

once for all,

sacrifice of Christ

can take away sin,

can make us sanctified?

Verse 10.

And by that will,

we have been sanctified

through the offering

of the body of Jesus Christ

once for all.

How does that work?

Well, remember

who Jesus is.

He's totally God.

Totally man.

He's totally man.

He is the perfect

representative man,

yet without sin.

Remember that?

from Hebrews chapter 4, 15.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

He was tempted

in every way

yet without sin.

And he is God.

His death satisfies

God's wrath forever.

That's why Jesus' blood

is better than

the blood of animals.

His blood is the power.

power.

The power to deliver us

from our sins.

What we have here

is quite a comparison

between the inferior

sacrifices of animals

and the superior

sacrifice of Christ.

The repeated offerings

of these animals

points to their

ineffectiveness.

But the once for all

sacrifice of Christ

it points to

how effective

it is.

Christ alone

takes away

our sins.

For the legalists

in the room,

this is really good news.

Because what this means

is that your

eternal standing

with God

depends

not on

any repeated

effort of yours,

but on the

once for all

sacrifice

of Christ.

Amen.

Christ's superior

sacrifice

is amazing.

Imagine

you owe

50 million dollars

in debt.

But you're responsible.

people.

So you set up

a payment plan

to work with

your

$75,000

a year income.

And so you

are able to

set aside

$300 a month

to start

paying down

this debt.

So for the

next 50 years,

every month,

you are paying

$300 a month

on the nose

and your credit

rating starts to go up.

You're like,

oh, this is good.

I am paying

off my debt.

I'm doing

what I can.

You're feeling

pretty good

about yourself.

And then when you

come to the end

of your life,

you realize

that these

50 years

of paying

$300

a month

amounts to

$180,000,

which is

less

than half

of 1%

of the

$50 million

debt

you owe.

not even

a dent.

It's a picture

of Old Testament

sacrifice

of animals.

Not even

a dent.

It shows us

our sin

but does

not take

away sins

fully

and finally.

But imagine

if you've got

a billionaire

uncle

and he

loves you

dearly.

he finds

out that

you've got

a $50

million debt

and with

one single

check offering

once for

all for

all time,

he pays

off your

debt

in full.

Now that's

effective.

Now that's

superior.

That's

done.

And if you

pulled out

your checkbook

and said,

okay uncle,

can I start

paying you

$300 a month?

He'd be like,

no, you don't

get it.

This is a

gift.

Enjoy it.

Live free.

The antidote

to legalism

is what we

see in

verse 10.

And by that

will, the

will of God,

we have been

sanctified through

the offering of

the body of

Jesus Christ

once for

all.

He's a

superior

sacrifice.

Hold fast

to Christ

and kick

legalism to

the curb.

God's

second point.

Reason number

two,

Christ's

superior

priesthood.

There is

another

comparison and

contrast in

this passage.

And it's in

verses 11

through 18.

And the

contrast is

between the

inferior

priesthood of

the Levites,

old covenant,

and the superior

priesthood of

Christ,

new covenant.

And both

priests deal

in sacrifices.

So let's look

at the inferior

priesthood first

in verse 11.

We read this.

And every

priest stands

daily at his

service offering

repeatedly the

same sacrifices,

which can never

take away sins.

One of the

things you're

aware of about

these inferior

priests is that

there are more

than one.

There are many.

many.

And all of

these men,

they lived and

then they died.

And then all of

these human

priests were

sinners.

Do you remember

how they would

have to offer

sacrifice for

themselves before

they had to

offer sacrifice

for the people?

They were

sinners.

They had to

offer sacrifices

for themselves.

And what we

see here is

that they were

offering repeated

sacrifice, the

same sacrifice

of animals,

bloody messes

that couldn't

take away sins

over and over

and over again.

And the result,

verse 11,

it could never

take away sins.

This past week

I was reading

in one of the

commentaries and

one of the

writers pointed

to Sisyphus,

the figure from

Greek mythology.

Remember this guy?

The gods punished

him for eternity.

And they punished

him because he

had to push this

boulder up, this

huge hill.

And then once he

got to the hill,

the boulder would

just go roll down

again and then he

would have to push

it back up,

strenuous, repeated,

time and time

again, and he

never got it done.

It's this repeated,

ineffective picture

of futility.

And what we see

going on here is

that the Levitical

priesthood,

though set up by

God, those

serving to expose

our sin,

it's Sisyphus-like

in its ineffectiveness

and in its futility.

It doesn't take away

sins.

This is the inferior

priesthood that has

now been made

obsolete.

By the superior

priesthood of Christ.

And we see this

superior priesthood in

verses 12, 13, and

14.

We're not talking

multiple priests,

we're talking one.

And we're talking one

priest in the order

of Melchizedek who

died and then was

raised from the dead.

He's alive today.

It's a single

offering, 12 and

14.

And yes, he's

human, but he's a

human who never

offered a sacrifice

for his sins because

he never sinned.

He was sinless.

He's totally human,

so he can represent

us fully, but he's

also totally God.

Flip back to

Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

We read in verse

3,

He, the Son,

Christ, is the

radiance of the

glory of God and

the exact imprint of

His nature.

And He upholds the

universe by the word

of His power.

He's God.

And all of God's

power and He's

human in all of

humanity without sin.

A superior

priest.

Christ.

And the sacrifice

that He offers

is far better.

He didn't need to

offer an animal

because He never

sinned.

What He did is He

offered Himself for

our sins.

This totally God,

totally man,

priest, king,

offered Himself,

as one commentator

talked about,

the offering and

the offerer are

one and the same.

Single,

once for all,

for all time.

Did you see that in

verse 14?

Sacrifice for our

sins.

Do you know what

is striking about

this passage?

it's the posture

between the

priests.

If you look at

verse 11,

every priest

stands

daily.

They're busy.

Busy offering

ineffective sacrifices.

But then when you

look down to

verse 12,

when Christ had

offered for all

time a single

sacrifice for

sins,

He sat

down

at the right

hand.

of God.

It's a reference

to Psalm 110

again.

He sat

down.

It's a picture

of being done.

Remember from the

cross, He said,

it is finished.

If you go back

to Hebrews 1,

we read this.

Verse 3,

after making

purification for

sins,

He sat down

at the right

hand of

majesty.

Work

finished.

One and done.

single.

Once for all.

For all time.

Done.

It's an amazing

work.

Through His death,

He has perfected

for all time

those who are

being sanctified.

God.

And now He

waits.

He's alive.

He's waiting

on His throne

and look at

verse 13.

Waiting from

that time

until His

enemies should

be made a

footstool for

His feet.

It's like a

picture of

Jesus lounging

with His feet

kicked up and

His enemies

are His

footstool.

It's a picture

of authority

and dominance

who are His

enemies.

Sin,

death,

devil.

We're one

day closer to

them being

eradicated.

Thrown down

forever.

And for a

church that

was originally

received this

who are

suffering for

Christ,

that would be

a huge assurance

for them.

That Christ

is in control.

He's not

standing,

wringing His

hands.

He's seated.

And one of the

things that He is

doing for us

as our

great high

priest.

And we know

this from

chapter 7

verse 25

is He's

interceding

for us.

That we

would live in

the good

things that He

has come and

established.

The fullness

of our

salvation.

If you

are

tending

towards

legalism,

what this

helps us

to see

is this.

You're

not your

own self

appointed

priest who

mediates his

or her

salvation

through your

own

offerings.

Christ

did that

once as

your high

priest.

Once for

all.

And now

He's bringing

it to bear in

our lives

from the

throne of

grace.

There is

no

service,

amount of

service you

can render.

There is

no amount

of offerings

you can

give.

There's

no end

to your

confessing

of your

sin that

will make

you

holy in

God's

sight.

It's only

through the

blood.

Christ's

blood.

He is

no

Sisyphus.

It's a

contrast between

the ineffective

feudal

offerings of

the old

covenant

and the

effective

and profitable

and fruitful

offering of

the one

time

all

once for

all sacrifice

of Christ.

He secured

our eternal

redemption.

And when

we get to

verse 14,

we read that

his once

for all

sacrifice,

well,

it took

away all

of our

sins.

It perfected

for all

time.

That's

flying in

the face

of

10-1.

These

animal

sacrifices

can never,

by the

same

sacrifices

that are

continually

offered

every year,

make perfect

those who

draw near.

Whose

sacrifice

can?

Christ's

has.

is

perfected

for all

time.

We're

completely,

utterly

forgiven

of our

sin.

If you

put your

faith in

Christ,

you are

forever

forgiven

of your

sin.

And we

are now

being

sanctified.

This one

verse holds

two things

at the same

time.

Your

position

as being

kind of

brought into

right standing

with God,

you've been

perfected,

you've been

sanctified,

we'll often

use the

word

justified,

you're in

right standing

with God,

and at the

same time,

we are

being

sanctified,

we are

being

transformed,

we are

being

conformed

into the

image of

Christ.

In chapter

12,

we will be

sharing more

and more

in the

holiness

of God.

Both

are true.

And it's

because of

this once

for all

sacrifice

that set

it into

motion.

So

positionally,

we're

secure based

upon this

finished work

and

experientially,

we are

becoming

more and

more

holy

as God

is holy.

And you

can't confuse

the two.

You being

holy doesn't

make you

perfect.

God by

his grace

makes you

perfect through

Christ's death

and then he

makes you

experientially

holy.

This is

Christ's

superior

priesthood.

This is why

he's

interceding

for us

right now

from the

throne

of grace.

You're

not your

own

self-appointed

priest.

When it

comes to

your salvation,

when it

comes to

making you

perfect,

when it

comes to

taking away

all of

your sins,

Christ

offered

himself

for

your sins

once and

for all

and sat

down.

Done.

It is

finished.

So let me

just say it

this way.

Christian,

there is

absolutely

nothing you

can do

to add

to what

he has

done.

Nothing.

Nothing.

And now

he ever

lives

to make

intercession

for you.

What a

great high

priest we've

got.

In verses

15 through

18,

the writer

of Hebrews

comes full

circle.

He comes

back around

to quoting

from Jeremiah

31.

And after

quoting from

Jeremiah 31,

he says

this in

verse 18,

where there

is forgiveness

of these,

where there's

full forgiveness

of your sin,

where the new

covenant has

come,

where Christ's

once for

all,

for all

time,

sacrifice

has come

to bear

and it

has.

There is

no longer

any offering

for sin,

no need

for animal

sacrifice.

It's been

made obsolete.

So what this

means for us

is this,

we hold

fast

to Christ

and we

say good

riddance

to legalism.

there's no

hope in it.

There's no

salvation in it.

So what do

you do

when you

start seeing

legalistic

symptoms

start to

show up

in yourself,

whether that's

towards yourself

or maybe

towards others?

Maybe you

start

wondering

or fearing

that your

standing with

God is now

in jeopardy

because you

haven't had

your quiet

time in

three days

or you

haven't been

to church

in three

weeks

or maybe

because you

haven't confessed

your sin

recently

or maybe

it's just

because you

just don't

feel like

you're good

enough.

You take

your eyes

off yourself

and you

set your

eyes

on Christ

and you

hold fast

to Christ

his once

for all

sacrifice

and his

ongoing

interceding

priesthood

and you

say good

riddance

to these

legalistic

fears.

Would you

repeat after

me?

Christ is

my

risen

and reigning

priest

and king

the anchor

of my soul.

who now

intercedes

for me

the once

and for

all

sacrifice

for my

sins.

Knowing

that Jesus

is your

perfect

substitute

who has

paid for

all of

your sins

now you

read your

Bible with

joy.

now you

come to

church as

often as

you can.

Now you

confess your

sin whenever

the spirit

brings it to

your mind

and now you

do good

works

not because

you're earning

your salvation

because all

of these are

outworkings of

your salvation

and there is

joy

and at the

heart of it

is the

once and for

all sacrifice

of Jesus

Christ.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus

we are so

grateful for

what you have

done and

what you are

doing.

Thank you

Lord Jesus

for bearing

the full

weight

of our

sin and

God's wrath

towards that

sin.

And thank you

that now

we get to

live for you

with a clear

conscience

and we

can make

much of

reading our

Bibles and

coming gathering

together on

Sundays and

confessing our

sins and

doing good

things because

we've been

freed of

thinking that

these somehow

make us

acceptable in

your sight.

Through

Christ's death

you have made

us acceptable

in your sight.

Thank you

Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Thank you so much for

coming from