Hebrews 10

What a great tour of the OT Tabernacle and comparison of the system required by the law and the completion of the system thru Christ. This week we will look at the sacrifices old and new.

Comparing the law to Christ. Jesus still wins!

Heb.10.1-39.ESV 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.

A reminder… of what? That we sin, that we need a Savior. That God will make a way….

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 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.”

Psalm 40:6-8 read the notes…

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

He does away with the first….the old is gone, the new has come.

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 his 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 enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

( oh we know this quote!! Psalm 110! Hooray for studying and learning!!)

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.”  

We know this one too! Jeremiah 31:31-34!

Where there is forgiveness of these (lawless deeds and sins), there is no longer any offering for sin.

Once for all….  

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great 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 with pure water.

We see the phrase “Let us…” several times in these 2 paragraphs. Make a list of what we do after ”let us…”

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he(Jesus) who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Meeting together, where do we meet together?  Who does the “we” refer to?  What happens to us when we do not meet together = isolate? Snipers pick off the lone soldier. There is safety in numbers, what is the benefit listed here? This is to encourage us not condemn us.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

Another thing we get from meeting together, accountability.

.Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

Consequences for violating the old covenant.

How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

How have you struggled since you were “ enlightened” ?

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;   but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their soul.

Confidence and reward, God wants us to be sure and solid in the fact that we are His and His is ours. Forever, not based on our works but His sacrifice. That’s what love looks like :)