Read Hebrews 10:1-4
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
You may think ‘I’ve heard it all before’. That’s true – so it must be important! The writer is now building towards a climax so we’d better follow his arguments:
- Just as the Tabernacle and Temple were shadows of what was to come, so was the sacrificial system.
- If a sacrifice was sufficient to cleanse people from their sin, why had it to be repeated with monotonous regularity?
Obviously a bull or goat was not of sufficient value compared with the value of a human life.
Read Hebrews 10:5-7
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, “Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll –
I have come to do your will, my God.”’ (Psalm 40:6-8 Septuagint version)
Sacrifices came in different forms depending on the forgiveness required – from a dove or two pigeons to a prize bull without spot or blemish.
God himself, born as Jesus in a human form, has become the infinitely perfect sacrifice, covering all sin for all time.
Read Hebrews 10:8-10
8 First he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them’– though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do your will.’ He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
What does that phrase (v9) mean ‘He sets aside the first to establish the second’?
The old covenant required people to obey God. But they chose to disobey God. That is sin, and the ‘wages of sin is death’ – spiritual death. So to prevent everyone ‘dying’ a substitute sacrificial animal was needed.
But that didn’t repair the original problem: ‘People chose to disobey God.’
Samuel, speaking to King Saul said ‘Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.’ (1 Samuel 15:22)
Not only was Jesus the perfect sacrifice, but he provided a way for us to be obedient to God’s will. Not by our own efforts, but by his Spirit becoming one with our spirit.
Read Hebrews 10:11-18
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16 ‘This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.’
17 Then he adds ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’
18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
While we are on the Earth, we are still sinful people. We fail to cooperate with The Holy Spirit, then when we realise we have sinned we feel we should somehow pay for it! We still have a lot to learn; God will never break his side of the New Covenant. v17: ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’
(Ponder what that means!)
‘My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed thee.’
(Hymn: And can it be – Charles Wesley)
Read Hebrews 10:19-25
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Does this mean that now that our salvation is secure we can sit back and relax?
No
What positive steps must we take?
- Enter into God’s presence and draw near to God v19, 22
- Hold onto our faith v23 Why? Also v23
- Think how to encourage others v24, 25
- Keep meeting together v25
The Christian life is a race. Not a sprint but a marathon; and we don’t know how long it will be – the course is still being laid out! So we will all need constant encouragement to keep going.
Read Hebrews 10:26-31
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Now the letter takes a sideways step and introduces a subject that many find controversial. One that we have already looked at in Hebrews 6:4-8 (study 4).
If you feel that your group still need further study on the topic of losing your salvation, then I suggest looking at John15e. Personally, to spend time studying how to deliberately give up my salvation is of no interest to me.
But as it is repeated here we do well to listen to the warnings of this passage.
Read Hebrews 10:32–35
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
Few of us in the West will have suffered for our faith in the same way as those early believers. But it is good to remember those in other cultures where exactly these same things are a real and constant threat. Peter Pothan of Scripture Union wrote in the daily WORD live for 19 July 2020:
‘In Khandamal in Orissa in India, Christians were tortured and killed, pastors murdered and churches burnt by the Bajrang Dal in 2008. When the Christians went back to their villages in 2012 they had resolved to forgive those who harmed them and to share the love of Jesus with them. Churches have been rebuilt, evangelists are trekking into the hilly areas to preach and many new churches have sprung up. Two of those who were the most violent persecutors have found the Lord and have become ardent witnesses for him. The major Hindu persecutor accepted Christ and is preaching about him. He is called the ‘St Paul of Khandamal’. God is still performing miracles.’
Read Hebrews 10:36-39
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For, ‘in just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.’
38 And, ‘But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.’
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
‘we . . . belong to those . . . who have faith and are saved.’
Such an encouragement! And it leads us perfectly into Chapter 11. But as we read of the great people of faith, we can also be encouraged by the fact that they too failed – some spectacularly. But that was no reason to give up, they still remained faithful, and so must we. And as we have just seen, our salvation depends solely on the finished work of Christ, not on any merit of our own.
Read Hebrews 11:1-3
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
If I asked you to give examples of faith in action you may well reply that you exercise faith when you turn on the television to watch the news. You have faith that there will be a supply of electricity, that the production team will have been busy, that the newsreader is fit and well-trained and the autocue is working.
But that is actually more like trust, based on sight. You have seen it before, so you expect it again. And actually you would not be very surprised if for many reasons the news did not appear when you wanted it.
We trust and expect because of our past experiences.
Look at verse 1 again. Is this faith something altogether different? Can you describe it?
True faith cannot be based on any previous experience.
Faith is when we choose to believe something with strong conviction but without any tangible proof.
So let’s look at some examples from the Old Testament, starting with Genesis:
Read Hebrews 11:4
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
Would this have been your first choice for an example of faith in action?
Perhaps we’d better Read Genesis 4:1-12
1 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.’ 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 But Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field’. While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’
‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’
10 The Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.’
Also read Hebrews 12:24
to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Some have tried to make a distinction between Abel’s sacrifice and Cain’s offering but the words are actually the same: Hebrew: ‘offering’, Greek: ‘sacrifice’.
Last autumn I ordered online some plants for the garden. When the plants arrived I was a bit upset that many of them were just roots! But I planted them and waited.
Eventually of course, they grew. One of them was a Catananche.
I thought it was a beautiful flower and was quite proud I had grown it. Just a minute –
Who had grown it?
All I had done was put it in the ground. Where was my recognition that it was God who had designed and created and grown everything in the garden?
I think that Cain was thrilled when what he had planted eventually produced a good crop. He even picked some of the best and had the first Harvest Festival.
What happened to it then? I presume it wasn’t thrown away – it was probably eaten.
So what made Abel’s sacrifice different?
God did not give permission to eat any animals until after the flood. To kill any animal at that time must have been so counter-intuitive that to do so must surely have been prompted by God. Notice too that it wasn’t just one animal (Genesis 4:4).
So for Abel to kill some of the firstborn of his flock and to present them to God as an offering must have been very significant, and costly. We can of course try to read into the narrative, motives that are not actually there. All we can do is accept that we are told he presented his sacrifice by faith, and on that basis God accepted it.
It is impossible to know what motives other people have, but God knows. We will stop this study here, but perhaps we each need to consider our motives as we seek to bring our own offerings (sacrifices?) to God.
