Hebrews 10:1-18
Preached 6/1/2025
INTRODUCTION
I have been planning a fill-in message in my head for the past several months from Hebrews 10:24-25 titled “Consider”, after the active imperative of those verses. When I got the call yesterday and started looking in earnest at the passage, however, I realized that I had miscalculated what the scope of that message should be, and that there was no way to preach those two verses without talking about the context found in the rest of chapter ten. Since I am scheduled to preach again in three weeks, I want to take the opportunity to talk about the first half of the chapter today before I dare to talk about the later verses.
There is a real danger when doing a regular read-through of scripture, which is that when we take on the entire Bible it is easy to be task-oriented, reading the required number of chapters per day to fulfill your personal goals and realizing (or not realizing, more likely), that you have spent five minutes reading a chapter and when you finish you only remember maybe one verse or a word that stood out but you don’t really appreciate the flow and majesty of what you have just read. This is often my problem, especially in a rich book like Hebrews. I discovered this when I sat down yesterday to read through this chapter, and I was blown away by what I had missed.
There are two things that struck me during yesterday’s studying that I want to make a part of today’s journey. One is that our verses today have a strong parallel to Paul’s description of Jesus in the second chapter of Philippians. The second is the parallel between Hebrews 10 and Romans 8 and 12.
Let’s look at the structure of the chapter in the context of Hebrews. Remember that the author writer of this book was writing to Jewish Christians who, though they had believed in Jesus, they were now beginning to consider falling away to their old religion due to social pressures or even persecution. They seemed to be saying “isn’t being religious enough? We are dealing with a lot of hassle over following Jesus”, or “I get so much comfort from the old rituals and ceremonies - doctrine just divides us”. The writer of the epistle spends the first nine and a half chapters talking about the stark difference between the Mosaic system that they wanted to fall back on and the gospel of Jesus Christ. He compares the man Moses to Jesus the Son of God. He compares the temple priests, who need to offer sacrifices for their own sins, to Jesus, the great High Priest in heaven who offered Himself. He compares the animal sacrifices in the temple to the divine Lamb of God who came, as John the Baptist preached, to “take away the sins of the world”.
In chapter ten the author completes his doctrinal teaching, and then starting in verse 19, with the word “therefore”, he begins his application section. He admonishes them, in the light of the greatness of God’s revealed gospel, not to turn away from the manifold blessings that they have in Christ. Paul does the same in Romans, where his doctrinal explanation of justification reaches its climax in chapter eight, and then (after the parenthesis of chapters 9-11) he starts his admonitional section in verse one with the famous words:
Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
As we will see in the next sermon, the writer of the book of Hebrews follows the same basic format. First comes the why, and then comes the what (and how). But this week we will see one other parallel: Paul tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. The writer of Hebrews presents Jesus as the one who obediently presented his own body as a living sacrifice, selflessly, being not only our Savior, but also the fullest example for us of all that God requires of us. We love because He first loved us. We humbly serve, because He first humbly served. We live for Him because He lived for us. We support the church because He sacrificed Himself to create it and because He loves it and because He lives to make intercession for it in heaven and because He made us a part of it.
Let’s
get into the text. For those who do the fill-ins, we will be talking about
Futility, Freedom and Fulfillment.
I Mired
in Futility (1-4)
Chapter ten verses 1 through 18 summarize the difference between the old and new covenant with relation to justification and the forgiveness of sins. The first four verses give a description of the Mosaic sacrificial system. Unlike the sacrifice of Christ, the sacrifices go on and on and on.
Heb 10:1-4 1 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. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Notice the words used here:
- “continually
offered”
- “never …
make perfect”,
- “reminder of sins every year”
- “impossible… to take away sins”,
There is a sense of futility and monotony in the words used. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and century after century there was a steady stream of sacrificial animals, offered by a steady stream of fallible human priests. A steady stream of animal blood pours forth from the altar, but salvation is never complete and never will be complete. In fact, the animals were not even able to make atonement for a human sinner, so those who brought the animals were never saved from the final wrath of God by the killing of an animal.
In the earlier chapters of Hebrews the author used the words “once for all” three times to describe the sacrifice of Christ, the lamb of God, on the cross. In chapter nine he wrote:
Hebrews 9:24-26 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
So if the sacrifices ordained through Moses did not save, why was it implemented and why were the Israelites commanded to do them? Because, as verse one informs us, the good things (Jesus and the Cross) were going to come, and the law was given as a “shadow” of those things. As Paul wrote to the Galatians: “the Law has become our tutor [to lead us] to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” (Gal 3:24 NASB95) The law was a signpost from God pointing to the great work He would do to save the world from the sin first propagated to the entire human race by Adam. Jesus is “the true form of these realities” to which the shadows point. Falling back from the gospel to the old system of animal sacrifice is falling back from the glorious reality of the gospel to the time before, when the plan of salvation was something that even the angels longed to look into (1 Peter 1:12) but were looked forward to through faith. Now that the true reality is here, going back is beyond foolish. It would be like eating the menu in a restaurant after the actual food arrived at your table because the pictures look yummy. As we are asked back in chapter two of Hebrews, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (Heb 2:3)
So, leaving the shadows behind, let’s look at the true reality of God’s wondrous salvation:
II Exalted to Freedom (5-13)
As we come to verse five, we leave behind the shadows and futility and meet the hero of our story. I think that this verse ought to be read to some sort of superhero fanfare with words like “Here He comes to save the day!” So what is this hero like?
Heb 10:5a Consequently, when Christ came into the world,
Right from the start we see Someone different from all of the rest of lost humanity. This Hero came from outside of our world to save us. Why do we need someone from outside? We were Adam’s fallen children, unable to save ourselves, slaves to the power and penalty of sin, in rebellion against God. We were “dead in trespasses and sins … separated from Christ … having no hope and without God in the world.” (Eph 2:1, 12). Every one of us sinned and had “fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). We were, as Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter three “already condemned.” No human merely of this earth could die for someone else’s sin as a substitute because we all were dead in our own sins. But Jesus is different. He is a high priest that was “tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). In other words, this hero is our only hope!
Jesus is more than just an alien without sin. When He came into this world He was not just different from us morally, He was different by nature. He was God the son, his names include “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa 9:6) And yet, He condescended to become one of us, willingly surrendering for a time his glorious eternal existence in heaven so that He could show us what God is like and complete his mission of salvation. As Paul wrote to the Philippians:
Phil 2:5-7 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Let’s continue in Hebrews:
Heb 10:5b-7 5 he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 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.’”
Knowing that the animal sacrifices were just the shadow that pointed to the promised divine sacrifice, Jesus sanctified (or set aside) Himself for the task. He did not withhold his own body, but instead he offered Himself as a living sacrifice. In full devotion and obedience to the Father he gave everything He had. Look at Paul’s next words in Philippians:
Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
This man who came to earth, became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) then allowed himself to be killed as a criminal, though He had never committed any sins and was the only human being in all history who did not deserve to die. Continuing in Hebrews:
Heb 10:8-12a 8 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), 9 then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
The
glory of God’s plan is that, unlike the shadow (or any other invented religion
of human merit) the willing sacrifice of this perfect, sinless God-Man at
As God He knew that “we are but dust” (Psalm 103:14). He knew that God was pleased not by the sacrifices of animals, but with the faith of those who, like Solomon, said: “there is no one who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46) and like Job, said “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God…” (Job 19:25-26) Knowing all this, Jesus the “true form” of the sacrifice by offering Himself to die, bringing salvation to us. Continuing in Hebrews we read:
Heb 2:12-13 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
We
don’t just have empty promises. He did not stay dead, but rose again. He “was
declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by
his resurrection from the dead” (Rom 1:4).
“God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not
possible for him to be held by it.” as Peter preached in
Looking back at Philippians chapter two, Paul ends that section with a similar picture:
Philippians 2:9-11 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
What does that mean for those of us who trust in Jesus?
III From Futility to Fulfillment (14-19)
Every
story of a hero goes on to show us the story of the one who is rescued, right?
If Superman rescued someone from an erupting volcano but then dropped them in
front of a resulting tsunami, or if Spiderman rescued someone from being robbed
but left them hanging from a web at the top of the
Let’s look at his list of benefits. First of all, his salvation is complete.
Heb 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
We are not saved on the installment plan. Jesus does not have to be sacrificed daily just a little bit more to take care of small sins that were not paid for at Calvary. When He finished bearing the entire weight of God’s wrath against our sin, finishing the atonement of all of our sins, he said “It is finished” (using a word that was used on documents when a debt was “paid in full”). He then rose from the dead to show that his words were true. (If He had stayed dead we would not have any sure hope like we do because of the resurrection, right?). There is no Purgatory, no “temporary hell” left to pay for any little sins not included in his sacrifice on the cross. He has “perfected for all time” those of us who are saints in Christ. Not based on our deeds or our moral superiority but only based on His perfect righteousness. This salvation is complete and eternal!
What else does this hero give us?
Heb 10:15-16 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “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,”
We are not left as orphans. God has not left us to rot in sin on this world. Rather than just giving us a written law on stones, He has given us his Holy Spirit as a pledge of our inheritance, and the Spirit has given us a new heart and a new desire and ability to please God. Our very hearts and minds are changed. We are not perfected yet, but the orientation of our hearts has been changed if we have been saved. As Paul wrote to the Philippians:
Phil 3:12, 14 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ... 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The final listed benefit is assurance and rest from the eternal treadmill of trying to earn salvation by dead sacrifices and deader works. He has rescued us from futility and fear. Look at verses 17 and 18:
Heb 10:17-18 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
There is nothing left to fear. There is no debt left to pay. Human religions, with their dead works morality, are repealed, replaced with a loving and gratitude-filled pursuit of righteousness, helped by the very Holy Spirit of God, leading us to holiness and righteousness and away from the sin which so easily besets our old nature. Instead of the religions of human accomplishment, by which we stand before God and ignorantly boast to Him of how He should be impressed by us, there is a relationship, initiated and provided for by God, for those He loves and will live peacefully with forever. Praise God for his goodness!
Conclusion
The author of the letter to the Hebrews has set the stage now for the second half of the chapter. He has given us the why, but now we must look at the what. What do we do, now that we are Christians? Well, that is for the next sermon. (It’s not like I am being mysterious, we can all read ahead).
But we can take two things directly from the first 19 verses. First of all, we can ask ourselves if we might be in the same position as those for whom this letter was first written. We can ask ourselves:
Are we tempted to do the same thing that the recipients of this letter did? Are we content with religion without Jesus? Do we want to trust in ourselves rather than the Lamb of God, who died once for all to accomplish what would be impossible for us to do? Do we prefer our futile works to the divine gift of Jesus’ righteousness? Do we prefer a life without friction to a glorious eternity with God?
Secondly, just like Paul in Romans 8, the author of this book as left us (hopefully) full of excitement and gratitude. We can say with King David (from Psalm 103):
and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. ...
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it,
and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
17a But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him
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