9 months ago

HOLDING FAST WITH A PERFECT SACRIFICE
The once for all sacrifice of Jesus.

1. (Hebrews 10:1-4) Sacrifice under the Old Covenant could not truly take away sin.

2. (Hebrews 10:5-10) Psalm 40:6-8 gives a prophetic foundation for Jesus’ perfect sacrifice under the New Covenant.

3. (Hebrews 10:11-18) The finished work of Jesus Christ.

4. Encouraging the discouraged in light of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice.
(Hebrews 10:19-21) A summary of what Jesus did for His people.

5. (Hebrews 10:22) In light of what Jesus did, let us draw near to God.

6. (Hebrews 10:23) In light of what Jesus did, let us hold fast to the truth.

7. (Hebrews 10:24-25) In light of what Jesus did, let us pursue the community of God’s people.

8. Another warning to endure.
(Hebrews 10:26-31) The danger of a willful rejection of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for us.

Willful being those that had miracles performed before them verifying the Word of God and all that was given them to know the truth.

Sin willfully: In a sense, every sin is a “willful sin.” But here, the writer to the Hebrews spoke of something much more severe and relevant to these discouraged Jewish Christians who contemplated a retreat from a distinctive Christianity and a return to Judaism with its sacrificial system. This is turning your back on Jesus.

“It has nothing to do with backsliders in our common use of that term. A man may be overtaken in a fault, or he may deliberately go into sin, and yet neither renounce the Gospel, nor deny the Lord that bought him. His case is dreary and dangerous, but it is not hopeless.

There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins: If Jesus’ sacrifice for sin is rejected, there remains no other sacrifice that can cleanse.

How much worse punishment: If someone does reject Jesus’ sacrifice, fearful judgment is certain, even more certain than it was under the Old Covenant.

Trampled the Son of God underfoot: We disgrace Him by rejecting His greatest work. We devalue Him by devaluing what He did. Of this phrase, Vincent notes: “Frequent in LXX for spoiling, defeating, treating contemptuously. The strong term is purposely selected in order to convey the sense of the fearful outrage involved in forsaking Christ and returning to Judaism.”

Counted the blood of the covenant… a common thing: We consider Jesus’ blood of no greater importance than the countless animals sacrificed under the Old Covenant

(1) that Christ’s blood was counted common, having no more sacred character or specific worth than the blood of any ordinary person;

(2) that in refusing to regard Christ’s blood as that of an atoner and redeemer, it was implied that his blood was unclean as being that of a transgressor.”

Insulted the Spirit of grace: We offend the Holy Spirit, whose purpose it is to present Jesus and His work to us (John 16:8-15) when we reject Jesus and His finished work on our behalf

9. (Hebrews 10:32-34) Take heart in your discouragement, and remember how you have stood for God in tough times before.

10. (Hebrews 10:35-39) Draw on your past experience to gain strength to endure for the future.

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul: This is a confident conclusion. We will be those who endure on and gain the promise of God. We will not draw back into old traditions or into an Old Covenant relationship with God — or any other replacement for Jesus.

To the saving of the soul: “The word ‘saving’ does not refer to what is generally understood as salvation from sin, but is a word meaning ‘complete possession.’ Faith is first receptive in spreading its sails to catch the breeze of God’s revelation, and then it is responsive to His Word and grace.” (Thomas)

Loading comments...