How amazing and precious is the truth of our salvation! Jesus by his one
sacrifice accomplished what the multiplied offerings of bulls and goats never
could. The Mosaic Law contained only a shadow, not the very substance of God’s things.
Year by year, animal blood served only to remind – not to redeem – sinners alienated
from God. Only the blood of the Lamb of God could do that.
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So Jesus did what neither the Law nor we could do. He did it completely,
once for all. As we read in Heb 10:14, “For by one offering He has perfected for all time
those who are sanctified.” What blessed assurance, to know that in Jesus we are
counted as perfect and holy!
So may we go on
sinning willfully? No way! Read Heb 10:26-31.
Since Jesus paid it all, some reason that all sin is unconditionally
covered. They say that we recipients are under no particular obligation to
pursue holiness or to live by obedient faith. They teach that, once saved by
grace, followers of Jesus are relieved from the necessity of living by obedient
faith. It’s not true!
Calvinists teach the perseverance (or preservation) of the saints. They
say that, if God chose to save you, he will guarantee your continuation in faithful,
godly, holy living. For you to fail would be for his promise to fail. These
warnings cannot actually apply to people who are saved, because God by his
nature cannot let them be lost. That’s not true either!
Could
Not, Did, and Must
10:1-4 What
the Law Could Not Do
Read also Rom
7:9-12; Rom 8:1-4.
The value of animal sacrifices: not a removal
of sin, but a reminder of sin.
The repetition of those sacrifices reveals their inability to forgive
sin.
The purpose of the law: not to provide salvation, but to prepare for it
by showing our desperate need for it.
“… because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His
sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” Rom 3:20
“If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”
Gal 2:21
“For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then
righteousness would indeed have been based on law.” Gal 3:21
10:5-18 What
Jesus Did Do
Read also Psalm
40:6-8.
Though God commanded sacrifice, animals could not ultimately satisfy His
righteous requirements. Such is impossible (Heb 10:4).
Had the OT ever indicated that sacrifices, burnt offerings, and sin
offerings did not please God sufficiently to provide true forgiveness? Yes,
especially when such gifts were presented without genuine devotion from the
heart. See Ps 50:7-15; Isa 1:10-17; Jer 6:20; Amos 5:21, 22; Mal 1:10.
In Heb 10:5ff the writer quotes the words of Ps 40:6-8 to show the
failure of animal sacrifices to please God. “Sacrifice and offering You have
not desired … In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no
pleasure.”
By inspiration he then interprets the text messianically. The words,
first written by David after God had delivered him, are now the words of Jesus.
The eternal, pre-existent Son of God had to come into the world, because the OT
sacrifices could not ultimately please God.
“A body You have prepared …” He took on human form, so that he could
offer his physical body back to God as the perfect sacrifice. Review Heb 2:14-18.
“I have come …” Jesus left heavenly glory for the world.
“In the scroll of the book …” As God had prescribed in the OT Law.
“To do Your will …” “Will” has a double sense here. Jesus came [1] to fulfill
God’s desire or “will.” He also came [2] to establish God’s “will,” the new covenant.
Hebrews draws out the implication. He took away the first will (the old covenant
or testament), replacing it with the second (the new). 10:9
In contrast to daily, repeated sacrifices, which could not remove sin …
He offered one sacrifice for sins for all time; then He sat down, where
He waits for the final victory. Heb 10:12
He perfected us. 10:14
He sanctified us. 10:14
He put His laws within our hearts, so that we want to obey them and love
to obey them. 10:16
He freed us from the need to offer atonement for ourselves. There is no
longer any (need for) other offering. 10:17-18
10:19-25 What We
Therefore Must Do
Note the “for” (or “because”) and the “therefore.”
Because (positive) …
We have confidence to enter!
We have a great priest!
We have been cleansed in
conscience and washed in water!
Therefore let us …
•
Draw Near Sincerely and Securely
•
Live with a Clear Conscience
•
Hold Fast without Wavering
•
Find Ways to Spur One Another On
•
Assemble Faithfully
•
Encourage One Another – Time is Running Out!
Heads
Up!
Because (negative) …
We must draw near, hold fast, and encourage, BECAUSE –
[1] On the positive side – God graciously saves those who follow Jesus through
faith (10:19-25).
[2] On the negative side – God severely judges those who reject Jesus
through sin (10:26-31).
10:26-31 Look Out!
Willful sin forfeits the cross. “There no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins.” 10:26
Faithful Christians walk in the light, confess their sins, and are
continually cleansed and forgiven (1 John 1:5-10). Unfaithful Christians abandon
the light, continue their sins, and face God’s judgment (Heb 10:26-31).
Can a Christian sin defiantly and willfully, persist in that sin, and be
lost eternally? Yes of course! That is the exact teaching of this passage,
regardless of those who teach “once saved, always saved” or the Calvinistic
doctrine of guaranteed, no-matter-what, perseverance and preservation of the
saints.
This text is not intended to threaten or destroy the blessed assurance of
imperfect Christians who live by obedient faith! Rather, it powerfully warns willful,
habitual, deliberate sinners of God’s eternal judgment. It calls us to heed
that warning so that we do not become such.
Num 15:30-31 speaks of sinning defiantly, “with a high hand.”
Examples of life-threatening sins:
Heb 13:4 Fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
1 Cor 6:9 Or do you
not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 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.
Gal 5:19-21 immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife,
jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying,
drunkenness, carousing, and things like these … those who practice such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Greater Grace, More
Severe Judgment
“How much severer” than the capital punishment meted out under OT Law!
Since the blessings of the new covenant are greater than the old …
Since its sacrifice, ministry, and promise are greater than the old …
Since Jesus the Son of God is greater than Moses …
The consequences of despising and rejecting Jesus and his new covenant
are far more severe!
Here is the same “how much more” a fortiori argument used in Heb
2:1-3 and Heb 12:25. Everything in the OT is magnified in
the NT. Grace is greater, but so is the penalty for deliberate, willful sin.
Why? Read Heb 10:29. To reject the moral teaching of Christ is to spurn
and trample the person of Christ, to disregard His blood as unclean, and to insult
His Spirit of grace.
These sobering words are written in this context, not to the world, but
to Christians:
Heb 10:30 For we know
Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will
judge His people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.
10:32-34 Look
Back!
We often urge those in failing marriages to think back to the time of their
honeymoon. They would make any sacrifice, overcome any obstacle, and change whatever
was necessary to show their love for one another. Then challenges, arguments,
and pressures came into their lives and discouraged them. Can they recreate the
freshness, beauty, and excitement of that time and make a new beginning? With
God’s help they can start over again and rekindle that original fire! The same
principle applies to our relationship with Christ.
Remember the joy, zeal, and courage you had when you first found the
Lord?
Write down the reasons for your initial spiritual fire. What about
forgiveness? Christian friends? Bible study? Telling others about Jesus?
Prayer?
The book of Hebrews addressed those who are losing their fervor and zest
due to persecution. Can they – can we – go back a recreate the “honeymoon?”
Read Heb 10:32-34.
A confident Christian, who has “seen the light,” … Heb 6:4; 2 Cor 4:6
Can endure any conflict of sufferings, no matter how severe. 2 Cor
1:3-4
Can be “put on display” and made a spectacle. 1 Cor 4:9
Can survive insults, setbacks, and mistreatment. Acts 5:40-42
Can identify and sympathize with those persecuted or imprisoned. Heb 13:3.
Can rejoice even when his earthly possessions are seized. 1 Pet
4:13-16 How? Why?
Because he knows that none of these things affect his primary “real
estate.” Note:
Heb 10:34 … because you know that you
have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.
That phrase leads us from “Look Back!” to …
10:35-39 Look
Ahead!
“Therefore, do not throw away your confidence!” It must be possible to do
that and lose our eternal reward, or else these words could not have been
written. But the more we appreciate and anticipate the value of that reward,
the more determined we will be to keep our confidence and not cast it aside!
Of course we are saved by grace. Faith, confidence, endurance, and
obedience claim (but do not earn) the promise. Don’t lose your claim!
Can you and I be faithful to Jesus for “a very little while,” knowing He
will come again? Yes we can! We must!
Next there is a quotation from the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk asked in Hab
1:1-4, in 609 BC, “When will God’s judgment ever come against the wicked?” God
answered in Hab 2:3-4, “Yet in a very little while … Live by faith!”
Hebrews applies that answer to the final salvation Christ will bring the
faithful.
When will Jesus come? Will he delay?
The answer is the same answer that the LORD gave Habakkuk. “Yet in a very
little while … Live by faith!”
We are “justified by faith” (Hab 2:3) as we live by that faith to the
end.
We have two options. We could “shrink back to destruction,” or we could “have
faith to the preserving of the soul.” Heb 10:39 exhorts us, “But
we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith
to the preserving of the soul.”
Shall we shirk or shall we work? In the hymn, “Let Me Live Close to
Thee,” J.R. Baxter, Jr. wrote, “I would work, never shirk, blessed Lord, for
Thee.” Amen!
Coming up: Heb 11 will showcase “the men of old” who illustrated this
very principle, living by faith. 11:10, 16, 35-40
Then Heb 12 will resume the theme of 10:35-39, urging us to “lay aside
sin and finish the race!” Let’s do it!
