Jesus the Perfect Sacrifice – Hebrews 10

Joy: You’re listening to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Episode #214.  Today we’ll read Hebrews chapter 10 together: The author calls Jesus the perfect sacrifice; spurs us on to Godliness; and warns against deliberate sin.

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me as we simply read God’s word together.  Some things require discipline and sometimes that’s just not easy to muster by yourself, no matter how badly you want to do it or how much you know you should.  It’s just easier to do it with a friend.  So refill your coffee or tea, get comfortable in your favorite chair and follow along as I read aloud.  I’m so glad you’re here!

Welcome

I had five kids at our Wednesday night service!  I know, I know, that probably doesn’t sound like very many at all if your church is big.  Heck, it’s not even very many for our little country church.  Unless it’s 2020.  We decided last month to do a ‘soft opening’ for the children’s department.  Let’s face it.  Kids and social distancing are conflicting concepts.  

So, five of us teachers in the children’s department are showing up on Sunday mornings and taking turns on Wednesday nights.  We’re not doing any aggressive marketing, if you will, but are allowing the kids to come back as they talk to each other and just naturally gravitate back to church. I want to go slowly.  If we have a spike or if the governor shuts us down again, I don’t want the kids to feel jerked away again.  It just seems to make sense to take it slowly. 

Inspiring

Our lesson centered around Matthew 25:31-40.  But, Lord, when did we feed You, or when did we give You something to drink, or clothe You or visit You?  And they got it!  They are Jesus’ hands and feet.  I was shocked at how much money they had brought in within just a couple of weeks for our global hunger relief offering.  They generosity just flowed.  And then we had fun almost completing four shoeboxes for the Gospel Mission in a neighboring town.  They were so excited to take flyers home so their families could make their own shoeboxes.  

Experiencing the unguarded response to Christ that kids consistently exhibit is inspiring.  I know that I’m supposed to be mature.  And most days I act pretty adult.  But sometimes, I tire of being grown-up and just gotta soak in the joy of kids.  How about you?  Do you show up unannounced sometimes in the kids’ department on Wednesday nights at your church?  You know…just to be inspired?  Tell me about it at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Hebrews Chapter 10

The Perfect Sacrifice

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said:

You did not desire sacrifice and offering,

but you prepared a body for me.

You did not delight

in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.

Then I said, “See —

it is written about me

in the scroll —

I have come to do your will, God.”

After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law), he then says, See, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first to establish the second. By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

One Sacrifice for Sins

Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after he says:

This is the covenant I will make with them

after those days,

the Lord says,

I will put my laws on their hearts

and write them on their minds,

andI will never again remember

their sins and their lawless acts.

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

Exhortations to Godliness

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus  —  he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh) —  and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Warning against Deliberate Sin

For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who has said,

Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,

and again,

The Lord will judge his people.

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way. For you sympathized with the prisoners and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession. So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.

For yet in a very little while,

the Coming One will come and not delay.

But my righteous one will live by faith;

and if he draws back,

I have no pleasure in him.

But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.

Closing Thoughts

I love this peek into what seems to be a conversation between God and Jesus in verses 5-7:

5Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said:

You did not desire sacrifice and offering,

but you prepared a body for me.

6 You did not delight

in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.

7 Then I said, “See —

it is written about me

in the scroll —

I have come to do your will, God.” 
 
This God-man, Jesus, offered His body for us one time forever and then sat down at the right hand of God.  No longer are there any tablets of stone or daily sacrifices at the temple.  His statutes are indelibly marked on our hearts and minds.  There is forgiveness and He remembers our sins no more.  They are paid for and forgiven – past, present, and future.  

However, if we go on deliberately sinning, after we know the truth of Christ, there is no other sacrifice for sin.  Only judgement.  And it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  Let’s pray.

Prayer

Jesus, You are the pure Water that has washed us clean.  Thank You.  Help us to hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering.  Thank You for Your faithfulness.  Give us discernment and keep us from the evil of deliberate sin.  Help us to encourage and remind each other that we are those who have faith and are saved.  Amen.

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray God will grow in you what has been planted and watered here.  In this time of unprecedented struggle worldwide, we can look to God for guidance and comfort.  Be sensitive to those in your circle of influence who need a word of encouragement and invite them to join us.  If you like this show, it would be great if you give it a five-star review.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you right here tomorrow.  Be well!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.