The Finished Work of Christ

Good morning.

Do you have your Bibles? If you would open them to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10.

Pastor Casey was originally planned to be out of town today, and so I was slated to fill in this morning, and then those plans were changed. And so Pastor said, "Just go ahead, go right ahead." And so I'm filling in today, so it's good to be with you. I want to read this morning from Hebrews chapter 10, verses 1 through 18.

"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. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.

"Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said, 'Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. With burnt offerings and sin offerings You were not pleased.' Then" — and this is the Lord Jesus speaking — "'Here I am. It is written about Me in the scroll. I have come to do Your will, my God.'

"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.' Then He said, 'Here I am. I have come to do Your will.' He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

"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. But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. And since that time, He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool. For by one sacrifice, He made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

"The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says, '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.' Then He adds, 'Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.'"

Several months ago, we began a study in Hebrews. And I remember Pastor saying accurately this about Hebrews: there are two persistent themes that run through this letter, or this sermon, which was written — the target audience were Jewish believers who are being tempted to drift back into legalism, to drift from their faith. Today, we might apply that to believers who are tempted to drift back into the things of this world.

And so he writes to these Jewish believers and his first purpose is to show the superiority of Christ, that Christ is all-sufficient, that He is all that we need. And so we saw several weeks ago that Jesus is a better person. That theme is all through the beginning of Hebrews — Jesus is better, better, better. He's better than Moses. He's better than the prophets. He's better than the angels. Jesus is better. And then we began to look at His priesthood. He's a better Priest.

In Judaism, they had a whole lot of priests. They had a whole political order of many priests. Of course, not one of them could offer a perfect sacrifice for sin. But in Christ, we actually become priests where we have direct access to the Father. And we have a High Priest, the Lord Jesus, who is in heaven ever interceding for you and for me. And so we have a better person and we have a better Priest. And then a few weeks ago, we began to get into the fact that in Christ, we have a better provision. We have a better provision.

And that's what these verses are all about — that once-for-all sacrifice, that all-sufficient sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in explaining this all-sufficient sacrifice to these Jewish believers who were tempted to drift away and go back into their traditions and back into legalism, in showing this once-and-for-all sacrifice, he contrasts it with the inadequacies of the old Levitical system.

They had a purpose. They had a purpose, and that purpose was to point to Christ. And so that's the theme. In fact, the theme is down in verse 10, when it says we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. That's it — the finished work of Christ, once and for all. And so we're going to begin this morning in the first four verses, and we're going to see that this once-and-for-all sacrifice was to be expected.

It should have been anticipated — this suffering Servant, the Messiah who would come. And we see that in verse 1. Let's look at verse 1.

"The law" — that's referring to the old covenant, but in particular in the context of this passage, it's referring to the Old Testament sacrificial system. The Old Testament sacrifices. "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves."

The law here, the Old Testament sacrifices, are compared to a shadow. Now what is a shadow? A shadow is a representation of a reality. I mean, you don't have a shadow if you don't have a reality. But the shadow is merely a picture or a representation of the substance, of the real thing. A shadow of a key cannot penetrate a lock and get you in the door. A shadow of a meal will not feed your stomach and nourish your body. And a shadow of a cross can't pay a once-and-for-all sacrifice for you and for me.

But the law was a shadow, and it was pointing to this once-and-for-all sacrifice. And Paul is telling these Jewish believers, he says, "Don't go back and get enamored with the shadows when you have Christ."

A soldier goes off to war — World War II or Vietnam. And his wife back home, missing him, desiring that he return, puts photographs all over her home. She has a photograph of him in the living room. She has a photograph of him in the bedroom. And then she gets the call that he's coming home. He's finally going to arrive.

But she sends him a letter and she says, "I understand you're going to be at the airport, but you know, I've become so enamored with your picture. I've just become so accustomed and just so used to loving this picture that I'm not going to come to the airport. In fact, you don't even really need to come home." Now that's foolish, isn't it?

It's absolutely foolish. And in fact, that's what Paul is saying. He's saying, "You have Christ. Don't go back to the shadows that were inadequate. They were pointing to Christ."

Now, we see why these shadows didn't get the job done in the fact that they were repetitive. Look back at verse 1 and verse 2. It says, "For this reason, it would be that by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship." The very repetitive nature of these sacrifices was an indication that they didn't remove sin, they didn't cleanse from sin. All they did was cover sin. They were temporary, because if they were repeated — scholars tell us that during Passover week, 300,000 lambs were slaughtered. They had channels that led from the temple to the Brook Kidron where the blood would flow. And these sacrifices would be made over and over and over again. They were repetitive.

And look what they couldn't do. They couldn't make perfect those who draw near to worship. They didn't give direct access to God. And their repetitiveness demonstrated their inadequacy. On the Day of Atonement, once a year — Pastor spoke of this — the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies and he would take the blood of the animal and he would sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and that would be done once a year. And then he would have to come back the next year and do it again. You see, all they were doing was pushing all of those sins closer and closer to when Jesus would come on Calvary and pay that penalty. Just pushing them forward. It didn't clear their conscience. It was a reminder of their guilt.

It's just piling up like debt. Have you ever been drowning in financial debt? Don't answer that. You know, when someone's drowning in financial debt, they're desperate. They're paying their minimum payment. And each month it's a reminder: you still owe it, you still owe it. And then what do they do? They go out and they incur more debt. And it just keeps coming in. And every single bill is a reminder that that debt has not been paid. You know what that person needs? What if a generous benefactor came in and just said, "I'm going to pay it in full. It's done."

That's what happened on the cross. When Jesus bore your sins and mine, He wiped out the debt. He completely canceled out that sin debt. That's what happened on the cross. Sins were not to be tacked on anymore year after year. They've been paid for.

Now, moving on to verse 3, we see that these shadows, these sacrifices that were to point to Christ, were not only repetitive but also reflective. They were an annual reminder. It says, "The worshipers would have been cleansed once and for all, would no longer have felt guilty for their sins." God has given us a conscience. What is the conscience? That divine alarm bell that tells you and me we did something wrong.

Why is murder wrong? Do you need a statute to tell you that murder is wrong? Why is lying wrong? You don't need a statute. God has put in our hearts that alarm system that tells us it's wrong. He speaks about that in Romans. And every time we break God's law, our conscience is dirty. Our conscience is defiled. And this repetitive sacrificial system would not remove that guilt and would not remove the cause for that guilt, which was the sin.

Oh, listen, there are some good things to come. It says, "These are shadows of the good things to come." What were the good things to come? They're the things that we have in Christ. Having been justified by faith, we are at peace with God. Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That doesn't mean that we're not aware of our sin, that we don't confess our sin, but we ought not be unduly burdened by that sin which has been forgiven by the Lord. And the Old Testament sacrifices would not do that. They were reminded year after year, every time they went to offer a sacrifice. You see, sin is a radical matter and it needs a radical remedy. And that's what we have in Christ.

So it's a shadow. Look at verse 4. He explicitly states what these sacrifices won't do. In verse 4 he says, "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." You know, an amoral animal — the blood of an amoral animal cannot take away my sins. There's no relationship between an animal and the moral offense you and I have perpetrated against God. Only the Son of God, perfectly God, perfectly man, could stand in our place and be our substitute. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. We need another sacrifice that will take away sins.

Now, I know what some of you may be thinking. Why the shadows? Why would God go to all the trouble of the shadows? Now, let me offer a little general admonition first. Any question that starts with "Why would God?" has a perverse flaw in it, because implicit in that question is the notion that, you know, I could do this a little better and I'd be a little wiser about it. But I see some of you have had that thought.

What do we know about these shadows? They were prescribed. God had given the sacrificial system, and they were to create among God's people expectant hearts for their Messiah. They were to create anticipation. In fact, in 1 Peter 1:10, listen: "Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing, when He predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow." The Jewish people, familiar with Isaiah 53, should have expectantly awaited their Savior.

We should be expectant for His second return. And so certainly the shadows were to make among God's people an expectant people awaiting their Messiah.

Secondly, these shadows were a stark reminder — a constant and stark reminder — that the penalty for sin is death. And death was all around them. That's what the whole sacrificial system was about. Another Day of Atonement, more lambs. The penalty for sin was death.

And then also, there is biblical basis to say that when a penitent worshiper offered that sacrifice with the right heart and the right spirit, in contrition, God covers that sin and in forbearance held in abeyance His judgment. These were prescribed by the Father. Of course, the Jews had turned it into a formula. Many of them had turned it into a formula, like a magic trick — slay the animal, we're good till next year. It was never intended for that.

And so the law was a shadow of the good things to come that we have in Christ Jesus. Beginning in verses 5 through 10, we see how God established this once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin. In fact, if you jump down to verse 9, the second sentence says, "He sets aside the first to establish the second." He sets aside the first — what is that? The old covenant, the sacrificial system — to establish the second, the new covenant. You see, the new covenant is not a new revelation. It was a perfect fulfillment of the old covenant and the promise of Jeremiah. And now in verses 5 on down — what amazing verses. It's as if we are led in on a conversation among the eternal counsels of the Godhead.

In fact, the writer of Hebrews does an interesting hermeneutical maneuver here, and he's entitled to, because it's the Holy Spirit writing the Word of God. And he puts on the lips of Jesus words that were originally spoken by David. Let's look at verse 5 as we see how God established this once-and-for-all sacrifice. This was not plan B. I had literally heard a pastor — a good, semi-good Southern Baptist pastor — present the gospel as if it was plan B. You know, that God had one plan, and then Adam messed it up, and so God had to adapt and here comes plan B. No, no, no, no, no. That once-and-for-all sacrifice was planned for all of eternity to bring God glory.

And in verse 5, we see Christ expressing — He's on the verge of heaven, expressing His willingness to come to earth and to be that perfect, once-and-for-all sacrifice. Look what it says in verse 5: "Therefore, when Christ came into the world" — that is a reference to the incarnation. When Jesus left heaven and came to earth to be your sacrifice, He came willingly to be that sacrifice. When Christ came into the world, He was born of a virgin.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that the virgin birth is not a necessary doctrine. It says here, "A body You have prepared for Me." That is a reference to the incarnation, to the virgin birth of the Lord. You and I are born with sin. My daddy was a sinner. You know why my granddaddy was a sinner? Just take it all the way back to Adam. You and I are born with a sinful nature. The Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and He is fully God and fully man, and yet He is not born with a sinful nature.

"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" — in other words, all have a sinful nature. Had the Lord Jesus had a sinful nature, He would not have been qualified to be our substitute on the cross. He could have died for His own sins, but He couldn't have died for ours. But of course, Jesus had no sin. Only He would qualify to both satisfy God's justice and purify man.

And so it says, "A body You prepared for Me." Think about it. An eternal God is confined to the narrow dimensions of a virgin's womb, to be your sacrifice and my sacrifice, and to pay the penalty for our sin.

Verse 5 — when Christ came into the world, what did He say? "A body You prepared for Me." And then I want you to see what is repeated. The refrain is repeated in verse 7, and verse 9, and verse 10. Verse 7: "I have come to do Your will, my God." This is still Jesus speaking. "I have come to do Your will, my God." That's what He said about coming to earth. And then down in verse 9, look what He says: "Here I am, I have come to do Your will." And then look at verse 10: "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all."

Jesus came for one thing — to do the will of the Father. In fact, in the Gospel of John, He says, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish the work that He has sent Me to do." And all through His earthly ministry, you saw Satan and the forces of evil trying to deter Him from that will. As soon as He was baptized and went out into the wilderness, even His own disciples, who didn't have a comprehension of what He had come to do, tried to deter Him from that. And then we sang about not forgetting Gethsemane.

As Jesus was in Gethsemane, He said, "Father, if this cup could pass from Me — but not My will, but Thy will be done." Every day, all the way to Calvary, Jesus was doing the will of the Father, becoming the once-and-for-all sacrifice for your sin and for mine.

His once-and-for-all sacrifice was to be expected. In coming, He fulfilled all of the Old Testament sacrifices and rituals. It was established by God the Father from all of eternity. And because He followed the will of the Father to the cross, you see what it says in verse 10 — by that will, we have been made holy through that sacrifice.

And then you know what He did? He put it in a Book. On Wednesday nights here, on theology Wednesdays, we do a Bible count and we have everyone hold up their Bibles. You know what verse 7 says? After God sent Jesus — many people die a martyr's death. But the agony of the cross wasn't because He died physically on a Roman cross, which is hideous. It was because He bore your sin and my sin, the sinless One. Christ made Him who knew no sin to be sin for you and for me, that we might have the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And after He did that, He put it in a Book. Look what it says in verse 7. Jesus says, "Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll." This was all prophesied when He came to bear that once-and-for-all sacrifice. He put it in a Book, and we have it in a Book.

And we ought to share it. Think of all the people that are burdened down with the guilt of sin. They try to package it up and band-aid it in all sorts of ways, but there's no remedy other than Christ.

His once-and-for-all sacrifice was established. We have God the Father, we have the Son speaking here, and we also have the Holy Spirit speaking here as well. Now, beginning in verses 11 through 18, he begins to further explain the effectiveness of this sacrifice. Let's look at verses 11 and 12. I want you to see there are four contrasts here that really amplify the fact that Christ's work was a finished work. See if you can pick out the four contrasts, ready? "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. But when this Priest had offered for all time a sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God."

Do you see the contrasts? First of all, you see many priests as opposed to one Priest. We could talk about the Levitical orders and every one of them had any number of priests — many, many, many, many, many priests. But all of them put together couldn't offer a once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin. The many versus the one.

Notice secondly the posture. The priests were standing — standing continuously. Why were they standing continuously? Because their work was never done. We're going to cover sin now, and then we're going to cover sin again tomorrow, and the day after, and next year. Their work was never done. Pastor went over the articles of furniture in the tabernacle. You know there's one conspicuous omission in the furniture — there are over a hundred seats sitting right here. What were they? No chairs. There were no chairs in the tabernacle. You know why? Because it never stopped.

But when He made the once-and-for-all sacrifice, it says He is now seated at the right hand of the Father. The work is finished. It's over. Never to be repeated. And so you also have the contrast of the ineffective sacrifice, which merely covered sin, and the effective sacrifice, which removes sin. Do you see that? All of those contrasts there in verses 11–12 — He sat down at the right hand of God.

And so we have the effectiveness demonstrated by the contrast. And then in verse 13, we have that effectiveness demonstrated by the conquest. In verse 13: "Since that time, He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool." At the cross, Jesus dealt a death blow to Satan and his demons. Jesus went in one side of death and came out the other. He conquered death — not only for Himself, but for all of us who put our faith in Him. And so He conquered His foes. You know what the only thing remaining is? One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. He has made His enemies His footstool.

And then look at verse 14. We see the effectiveness of this sacrifice because of its permanence. Friend, you are eternally secure in Christ. You don't have to go back and offer another sacrifice. You have nothing to offer. Look what it says in verse 14: "For by one sacrifice, He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Your sins are permanently forgiven. Why? Because the sacrifice was permanent.

That doesn't mean I don't confess sin. When I sin, that sin won't condemn me. "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." It is a sacrifice that is permanent, and that forgiveness is permanent. Do you see that? Verse 14 — "By one sacrifice, He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." You know who that is? That's us. Those of us who are in Christ Jesus — He has made us perfect. That's talking about our position. It's talking about our standing. It doesn't mean you're going to walk out of here and be sinless. But before God, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

And so we have the effectiveness demonstrated through the contrast of the old sacrificial system, through the conquest — how He defeated Satan and death — and then in verse 14, "For by one sacrifice, He made perfect forever those." And then finally, beginning in verse 15, we see the effectiveness of the new covenant fulfilling the old covenant.

Now he's writing here to Jewish believers who knew what Jeremiah had said. Jeremiah had predicted this new covenant. In fact, we studied that back in chapter 8. The Jews should have been abounding in joy that the new covenant was here. You know the thing about the old covenant? God said, "I will do this," and the people said, "And we will do this." Nothing wrong on God's end. He did. He performed. The problem, of course, was the people.

Look at the new covenant. Look at the words. It's a unilateral covenant — not a conditional covenant. Look at all the personal pronouns. "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." This is the new covenant of being born again.

You see, the once-and-for-all sacrifice was essential to the new covenant. It is the heart of the new covenant. And when you were born again, guess what? The law of God is written on your mind, and you have the indwelling Holy Spirit, and now you can learn all things of God pertaining to godliness. When I'm born again, He writes His law in my heart so that I can actually love the will of God. I actually can have affection for doing the things that please God rather than the things that please the flesh.

And so we have the new covenant — being born again, getting a brand-new nature. This is the excellency. This is part of the excellency of the once-and-for-all sacrifice. It completely fulfills what was promised in the old and is purchased in the new, purchased by Christ on the cross.

And then look at verse 17 — as if it's not enough. He says, "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." That is an actual removal of sin, which is what that's speaking about. I heard a preacher say it this way. I don't know exactly who it was, but he said, "God has buried our sins in the grave of God's forgetfulness." It's not that God has amnesia — He's omniscient. But when it says He remembers our sins no more, they will not be held against us.

"I will remember them no more." Don't go digging them up. I just thought of a song — it's a country song, I shouldn't ruin the message, right? "Digging Up Bones" — I've even heard that song. Digging up bones. Don't dig up what God has buried and what He has forgiven, and let it assault your mind and keep you from moving forward. You know, he was writing not just so they wouldn't drift, but that they might go on and be everything that God had called them to be. Don't cry over spilled milk. It's been forgiven. Move on, go on. Your sins He will remember no more. They've been removed.

And then in verse 18 he says, "And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary." And so he's writing to these Jewish believers about the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ and encouraging them to rest secure in Christ. Don't go back into the shadows. Relying on anything but Christ is like putting a band-aid on a malignant tumor without adhesive. It just keeps falling off and you have to get back on again, and all it's doing is covering it anyway. It's not getting down to the root of the problem, which is the sin and the guilt that comes from it.

In Christ we have that remedy. In the Old Testament, the new covenant was promised, and in the new covenant that promise of full salvation was purchased by Christ.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we are dependent upon You for life, for salvation. We thank You that You did send Your Son to be that once-and-for-all sacrifice, to bear the penalty for our sin, not only that we might be forgiven, but Lord, that we might be in relationship with You. We thank You for Your grace. If there's anyone here this morning, Lord, who's still under that burden of guilt, because they've never put their faith in that once-and-for-all sacrifice, faith in the Lord Jesus who died to pay the penalty for their sin, I pray that You would draw them to You today, that they might cast themselves upon You, upon Your mercy, and rest secure in You. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.