(Hebrews 10:1-18)

by Pastor Jerry Marshall, New Community Church

The central theme of the book of Hebrews is the superiority of Jesus Christ. The book begins by highlighting the fact that Jesus is superior revelation than that of the visions, dreams and the words of the OT. (1:1-2) He is superior to the angels because He is the Son of God, the one who created the angels. (1:3-11) And superior to Moses in that He served as a Son over God's house. (3:1-6)

He is a superior high priest than the Aaronic priesthood of the OT I. the priesthood of our Lord preceded the priesthood of Aaron lasts forever. (7:1-8:6) (The Aaronic priesthood has a starting and ending point) The superior priesthood of Jesus is also the fact that He presented a superior sacrifice.

That brings us to this tenth chapter where the writer of Hebrews presents a contrast between the inability of the OT sacrificial system intake away sin and to secure salvation, and the all sufficient Christ which achieved all of God's objectives for the souls of those who would trust in Christ alone to rescue them from sins penalty and power, and ultimately from the future presence of sin.

This is most important because the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ .the cross and His victorious resurrection is God's solitary solution for man's greatest problem.

It eliminates any other formula for approaching a holy God for the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of your soul.

The interesting thing that we find in this text is that the inadequacies of the OT sacrificial system are also the same inadequacies of any sort of works righteous formula of salvation.

"The shortcomings of the OT sacrifices are the same shortcoming of those who attempt to approach God for forgiveness or salvation with their good works, religious devotion or their "Christian" rituals, sacraments or humanitarian benevolence.

They too fall short of accomplishing the objective of deliverance from guilt and condemnation.

The writer of Hebrews addresses the inadequacies of the Levitical sacrifices in several places in this chapter.

I. The Inadequacies of the OT Sacrificial System (Hebrews 10:1-5,11)

Why were the Old Covenant sacrifices inadequate? After all, they were ordained by the Lord; and they were in force for hundreds of years.

A. They were mandated to be repeated proving they could not achieve permanent forgiveness (vv.1-2,11).

Repetition conflicts with finality.

(10:1) The very nature of their repetitiveness proved their inability to meet the claims of a holy God; otherwise they would not have to be offered time and time again. The sacrificial system of the OT was a type or picture of the work our Lord would accomplish on the cross. This meant that the system was temporary. It had a temporary purpose. That purpose ended when our Messiah presented the ultimate sacrifice of Himself in order to take away sin.

(10:1b) When the writer speaks of these sacrifices being offered continually year by year he has the Day of Atonement in mind.

The annual repetition of the ceremony was evidence that the previous year's sacrifices had not done the job. True, the nation's sins were covered; but they were not cleansed. Nor did the people have God's inward witness of forgiveness and acceptance.¹

OT sacrificial system pictured the severity of sins penalty: a life would have to be taken in order to satisfy the righteous demands of a Holy God.

They illustrate the truth that without the shedding of blood, there would be no forgiveness of sins. The earthly lambs sacrificed to atone for sins of the worshipper were a picture of the heavenly Lamb of God who would take away sin forever.

"Under the Old Covenant, the priests were busy all day long, from dawn to sunset, slaughtering and sacrificing animals, It is estimated that at Passover as many as three hundred thousand lambs would be slain within a week. The slaughter would be so massive that blood would run out of the Temple ground through specially prepared channels into the Brook Kidron, which seemed to be running with blood." ²

Under the first covenant (the old testament), animals were sacrificed for man's sins. The animal had to be pure and flawless, having no impurity or flaw whatsoever. When It was sacrificed, it symbolized…

• that a sinless life was bearing the sins of men.
• that man's sins were being laid upon a sinless life who was bearing the guilt and condemnation of sin for the man.
• that a perfect and flawless life was being sacrificed as a substitute for sinful man.

However, note a critical point: animals are not perfect. They are as much a part of this physical and material earth as men are. They age and die just as men do. Therefore, the sacrifice of animals was an imperfect sacrifice. They were bound to be only symbolizing and pointing to the perfect sacrifice that was yet to come. Note another fact as well. An animal is not a man; therefore, it could never be an acceptable sacrifice or substitute for man. The only sacrifice that could become a sacrificial substitute for man would be another man, and that man would have to be the perfect and ideal man. Why? Because only the ideal righteousness could cover other men. A sinful righteousness is no better than the righteousness man already has. What man needs is the perfect, ideal righteousness that can stand for and cover him–that can present him to God and make him acceptable as righteous and sinless.

This brings us to the second covenant of God. God established the covenant or testament with man. This is the point of this passage: to show that Jesus Christ is the Minister or Mediator of the new covenant with man. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself is the perfect sacrifice for the sins of men.³

So OT sacrifices were to serve as a picture but could not make perfect those who drew near to God and offered them.

The word "Perfect" is a translation of the Greek word Teleio which bringing something to completion, or to bring something to its intended result.

What the OT sacrifices could not do is to bring the worshipper to a point of complete salvation and the cleansing of the conscious from the guilt of sin.

(10:2) If the OT sacrifices would have accomplished this end, the worshipper would have ceased to offer them repeatedly.

The conscious refers to man's innate awareness of sin in his life and of his sense of guilt because of it.

They would have experienced inward witness of full and final forgiveness. But that's not what happened-that leads to another reason why they were inadequate.

B. They were designed for the remembrance of sin and not the remission of sin (vv.3-4).

Remission of sin refers to being released from the guilt and penalty of sin.

(10:3) The annual sacrifice on the Day of the Atonement was a visible reminder of the people's sins.

The message that was being communicated by those repeated sacrifices is that the people offering them are sinners who need savior to provide a sufficient unrepeatable sacrifice that would achieve eternal redemption.

(10:4) The animal sacrifices of the OT have no power to remove the condemnation of sin or the mastery of sin from those who present them. They could only remind them of the truth that they are sinners who desperately needed a sufficient savior.

II. The Superiority of the Sacrifice of Christ

This is what sets the sacrifice of Jesus Christ far and above the OT sacrificial system.

A. It was reflective of God's eternal will in redemption (10:5-7).

(10:5) The word sacrifice refers to any of the animal sacrifices. Offering covers the meal offerings and the drink offerings.

In eternity past, God the Father had decreed that His Son would provide the once for all time sacrifice that would rescue those whom the Father had given to the Son saving them from sin and it's eternal condemnation. (John 6:38-39).

The will of the father in redemption was the supreme passion of Jesus' earthly ministry.

John 4:34 (NASB)

34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work."

Peter spoke of God's eternal plan of salvation in his powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the death and resurrection of the Lord.

Acts 2:22-23 (NASB)

22 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-

23 the Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death."

Acts 4:27-28 (NIV)

27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 

28 They did what your power and will had decided before should happen.

The OT sacrificial system had a purpose which was stated for us in verse 3. They were a reminder of sin but could not take away sin.

When we celebrate communion, we don't remember sin, we remember that one who saved us from sin because He accomplished the will of God in redemption.

The Old Testament sacrifices-were a public notice, before God and humanity, that the people were still sinners (Numbers 5:15).

In the new covenant, God will ''remember'' their sins ''no more" (8:12; 10:17).

B. It replaced the OT sacrificial system (10:8-9).

(10:8) The terms used in this verse are a summary of the whole sacrificial system of the OT.

(10:9) Our Lord removed the OT sacrificial system and replaced it with the ultimate NT sacrifice. And that is the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

The shadow had to give way to the substance. OT sacrifices were never meant to be permanent or truly effective in taking away sin.

The were symbolic of the kind of sacrifice that had to be made and why it had to be made.

C. It sanctifies the genuine believer (10:10).

We who are believers in Jesus Christ are the recipients of our Lord's will in redemption. We are not the initiators of our salvation or the means of appropriating this redemption through our personal merit or choice.

This will of God in redemption was accomplished for us by the once for all time sacrifice of God's only begotten Son.

It was the will of God in redemption that we would be sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

To be sanctified is to be set apart by God for God, thus the word "saint". In this passage, it is synonymous with being saved, rescued from sins eternal condemnation and bondage so that you might serve the true and living God.

The word speaks of both a positional and practical sanctification.

D. It takes away sin (10:11-13).

The Levitical sacrifices, with all their Priests and their repetition could never take away sin. But Christ offered himself as our substitute sacrifice resulting in our sins being taken away once and for all.

And Jesus did what no High Priest ever did on the Day of Atonement, He went into the very sanctuary of God and sat down at the right hand of the Father indicating that the work of redemption was finished once and for all and fully accepted and the sufficient payment for our sins once and for all.

MacArthur states in his commentary:

"These two verses are a series of contrasts-the many priests with the one Priest, the continual standing of the old priests with the sitting down of the new, the repeated offerings with the once-for-all offering, and the ineffective sacrifices that only covered sin with the effective sacrifice that completely removes sin."⁴

John the Baptist said of Jesus…

Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).

The OT sacrifices reminded the Jews of their sins and the NT sacrifice of Christ, takes them away!

(10:13) And now Jesus waits for the day when all of his enemies will bow their knees and confess openly that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of His heavenly Father.

Christ has already conquered Satan, sin, death, demons and this fallen world.

E. It gives the genuine believer eternal perfection (10:14).

Those who are sanctified refer to all true believers. The word "perfected" which is a translation of the word teleioo, refers to being eternally purified from your sins.

It speaks of the attainment of our salvation and open access to God because of the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is why the writer of Hebrews concludes as he does in verse 18.

F. It fulfills the promise of the New Covenant (10:15-18).

God had promised that in the New Covenant He would internalize His laws on the hearts and minds of those who belong to Him.

His law would go from external tables of stone into an internal dynamic impacting the intellect, emotions, and will of those who have been made perfect by the once of all time sacrifice of Christ.

Furthermore, their sins and lawless deeds would not be remembered by God unto condemnation. It's not that God omniscience would be short circuited-but rather that God would not remember their sins for the purpose of condemnation.

And the only way that the promises of the New Covenant could become a reality is if a sufficient and satisfying sacrifice was made that covered the debt of sin for those who would be redeemed.

Since that sacrifice was made and accepted by God the Father, and since the father has forgiven the sins of those who have trusted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for their salvation, there is no longer an offering for sin. The deal has been done.

It is finished! The price has been paid and accepted!

¹ Wiersbe, w.W. (1996, c1989). The Bible Exposition Commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"-Jkt. (Heb 10:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
² MacArthur, J. (1996, c1983). Hebrews. Includes index. (246).Chicago: Moody Press.
³ Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible – Commentary 
⁴ MacArthur, J. (1996, c1983). Hebrews. Includes index. (255). Chicago: Moody Press.