Strathalbyn Church of Christ

Heb 10:1-18. Theme: God wants obedience, not sacrifice.

Sermon by Pastor David Williams. Strathalbyn Church of Christ. 2 Jan 2022.

Someone convicted of a crime can have their record wiped after ten years. But does that cleanse their conscience? Even after 20 years, I doubt that an offender could look straight into the eyes of their victim. How do you fix a guilty conscience?

The Jews had animal sacrifices that may have brought a token satisfaction. But these could not remove the sin and guilt in their consciences. Sin and guilt can operate like a cancer in our lives, sapping our will and ruining our relationships. How can we deal with the problem of sin and guilt? Christians also struggle with this. Today’s reading deals with this issue – in three parts:

1. The Law reminds – not removes – sin, v1-4

2. Jesus removes sin, v5-14

3. Sin remembered no more! v15-18

1.The Law reminds - not removes - sin

The Jews may have been chosen by God, but they continually rebelled against him. There was need for reconciliation, for forgiveness. God had a plan for this, and the law was part of that plan. By this law, thousands of animals were offered for their sins each year. These were but a shadow of what was to come. They were but signposts, pointing to a greater reality.

10:1 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.

Susie had two dolls – Barbie and Ken. Barbie and Ken fight and try to make up – just like the fights that sadly went on in her own home. But the play of dolls could never meet the needs of Susie’s heart – for real forgiveness. The law is like that – a shadow of the realities to come.

2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

If the sacrifices had worked, they would have taken away guilt. Taken away sin. Even the very consciousness of sin. But they didn’t. They were cleansed outwardly but not inwardly.

3 … those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.

The sacrifices did achieve something. They reminded people of sin. That is no bad thing. Our modern psychology pretends that people are basically good. Teachers must not tell children they have failed. But it is good to be reminded that we are in the wrong before God. To know we need help is good – but this knowledge in itself is no solution. It is like someone in pain. Pain can be helpful - You know something is wrong, you know you need help – but it is not until you see the doctor that you can be helped. It is not until we see our Saviour that we can be helped.

Although God commanded sacrifices, he did not desire them. They were offered according to the law, and yet the attitude of those offering was wrong.

“You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings”

When offered with the right attitude, the sacrifices should have brought a change of heart – from rebellion to obedience. But they did not. They failed. So often, God criticized their wrong attitude. Samuel said,

“What is more pleasing to the Lord:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams” 1 Samuel 15:22.

To obey is better than sacrifice. The problem is, how to obey? How to obey when the heart is guilty, when we are not right before God? Guilt is a terrible thing to carry. So much energy is spent in hiding, or in blaming others, or in trying to justify yourself. If one of your children obeys you because he is afraid of you, or thinks he can buy your love that way, are you pleased with this? No, and neither is our heavenly father. But a forgiven heart is free from all that. A forgiven heart delights in pleasing Father.

2.Jesus removes sin

Between us and God is a terrible chasm. A chasm caused by our guilt, our sin. A chasm that no amount of sacrifice by us can bridge. We are helpless in our sin. This is where Christ helps us. Christ and his Father had a conversation before Christ became man. It went like this:

5 … when Christ came into the world, he said to God,

“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
But you have given me a body to offer.
6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings
or other offerings for sin.
7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”

The Father prepared a body for Christ. Christ became man to help us. He helped us by dying for us. Christ is shown to be our great high priest. So, Christ was both priest and sacrifice. Rather than offering animals, the offering he made was his own body.

Notice three things about this sacrifice.

1.It was no sudden change of plan, no tragic accident. It was always God’s plan to deal with sin through the sacrifice of his Son. It was planned long ago. Way back in the Garden when things went awry, it was foretold that Eve’s offspring would conquer the serpent, Satan, but that offspring would also suffer too:

He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel, Gen 3:15.

2.It was planned by Father, Son and Spirit together. The father prepared the body, the Father’s will was carried out by the Son, the Spirit in his Word had foretold these things (10:16-17).

3.The Son was an active and willing partner – no hapless victim. See the eagerness behind the words, Look, I have come to do your will, O God. Without question, the cross was a fearful spectacle. Yet with courage and determination, Christ set his face towards Jerusalem (Lk 9:51).

In doing the Father’s will the old sacrificial system was now past its used-by-date.

9 … Christ does away with the first [the law with its sacrifices] in order to establish the second [obeying God’s will].

Christ did away with sacrifices in order to do the Father’s will. His sacrifice made the whole Jewish system redundant. Some Christians think that by reviving Jewish practices this may help them to be better Christians. But these Jewish practices are the shadows that were fulfilled in Christ.

So, what did Christ’s sacrifice achieve that the OT system did not? Christ’s sacrifice was completely sufficient to deal with all the sins of humanity. In four ways the writer makes this point:

1.Once for all

In contrast to the old sacrifices, Christ’s offering is

once for all, v10

a single sacrifice, v12, 14
for all time, v12, 14

2.Finished

While every priest stands daily at his service … After Christ’s offering of himself, he sat down at the right hand of God, v-11-12. He sat because his work was finished. Just as he cried in his last breath on the cross, It is finished!

3.Victor

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

By his sacrifice, Christ has conquered all his enemies – Satan, sin and death.

4.Makes perfect

The law … can never … make perfect those who draw near. But,

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

Your eternal destiny does not depend, thank God, on anything you do. No amount of rosary beads, or other sacrifices that we invent can ever save us. Our salvation depends only on the once for all, perfect sacrifice of the Son of God, the Son who triumphed over all sin, your sin, and death itself. If you have never grasped this, then take hold of this promise today. Christ has set you free!

How does Christ’s sacrifice change us?

3.Sin remembered no more!

To be holy is to be free from sin, to live lives in joyful obedience to God. Some think that cricket is the nearest thing to holiness, but our holiness is like the cricket. You may know that the Ashes series consists of 5 matches. Australia has now won the first 3 matches. That means we have won the series. But - strange as it may seem - they will carry on playing the remaining two matches. They will play as if their lives depended on it, even though they have already won. But our holiness is like that. For those who are in Christ – our sins are forgiven. God sees us as holy. Yet we continue to fail, for we are not in heaven yet. The war has been won, but we still battle on. Daily we struggle to be holy. The message is: We are holy, so be holy!

a. You are holy!

Christ’s sacrifice has made us holy. That is, our sins are forgiven.

10 … we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ …

We didn’t deserve it. We didn’t ask for it. But God in his love and mercy offered Jesus’ body as a sacrifice so that we won’t face the death and judgement we deserve. God looks upon us as people with no sin, no record. Have you ever been seriously in debt? The shops stop giving you credit. Then a kind person comes and pays off your debt. When you go to the shop, they look up the ledger and see there is now no debt against your name. That is how God sees us.

“I will never again remember
their sins and lawless deeds.”

God chooses not to remember your sins because they have been paid for in full. He checks his ledger and there is no record of debt, of sin, against your name. Christ has paid the debt in full. But is that how you see yourself? Do you see yourself as one who is fully forgiven? Your sins – past, present and future – no longer count against you. You are holy in God’s eyes. Or do you keep dredging up your sins? Reminding yourself that you are bad, you are a failure, you are not loved by God for you are not worthy of that love? God might forget, but can you ever forget your sins? Yes, you can. This may be a surprise but look at verse 2 again.

2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

To no longer have any awareness of sins – wouldn’t that be wonderful? Animal sacrifices can’t remove our awareness of sin, but this can happen in Christ. Not that we forget, but our sins lose their power over us. Instead of fear, instead of shame, instead of guilt – if you happen to recall those sins that have dogged you, you will rejoice – knowing that Jesus bore its burden. We have a choice. Satan can continue to accuse us – like a nagging spouse dredging up past wrongs: “remember you are a failure, you are nothing, you are sinful”. Or we can instead praise God. Yes, that is what I was, but Jesus died for my sins. My sin can no longer condemn me! Those the Son sets free are free indeed. Rejoice that Christ has set you free_._

b. So be holy!

Christ’s sacrifice enables us to live holy lives.

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

Knowing that we are forgiven, that we are holy in God’s sight, spurs us on to live holy lives. We want to obey not to be saved but because we are saved. Like any grateful child, it is our natural desire to want to please our heavenly Father. This obedience is no longer a hard task of following the letter of the law written on stone tablets. Rather, it is an inner compulsion, for his laws are written on our hearts. His Spirit within us matches our heart’s desire to his.

I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds

Is there something God wants you to do, but you are resisting? As Christ delighted to do the father’s will, even going to the cross, let us so delight to do his will, whatever it may cost. Let us all say, “Look, I have come to do your will, O God”.

You might say, I can never live a good life. Without Christ, you cannot. It is the power of God’s Spirit that gives us this heart. Let God have his way with you. As you do, you will find his will matches your new will to delight in him.

There are two circular arguments. Which one will you live by?

1. Satan’s lie: I am a sinner. Therefore, I can never live a holy life because I am a sinner …

2. God’s way: I am holy. Therefore, I can live a holy life because I am holy…

If you have received Christ as Saviour, stop living under Satan’s lie. God says, you are holy, you are forgiven, so start living that way!

Pray: Here I am, I have come to do your will, O God. Take me and use me as you wish, one who stands before you, forgiven and free. In Jesus name.

Sources:

· Top of Form

· Adam, P. (2004). The majestic Son: Reading Hebrews today. Sydney South: Aquila.

Series: Hebrews

Topics: #Hebrews