Faithful One

Hebrews 10: 1-39

Good morning. Today we have reached chapter 10 in our study of the book of Hebrews. We have seen how this book puts Jesus at the center of history and the center of God’s redemptive purpose, as the fulfillment of all expectations before, and the eternal hope of all generations after. All the ways that people related to God in the Old Testament were a foreshadowing of the “new and living way” that we will read about today, opened for us by Jesus, our great high priest, who offered His own blood as a perfect sacrifice. This new and living way is the basis for us to press on in faith right now and to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds,” another important concept in today’s chapter. Jesus is worthy of our trust because He is faithful in fulfilling His promises. Hence our title for today: Faithful One. “He who promised is faithful.” We will come across that statement in this chapter as well. 

 

Chapter 9 ended with a description of how the tabernacle and its system of sacrifices and offerings were designed to be a copy of some heavenly reality, now brought to fulfillment by Jesus. Chapter 10 picks up this same thought:

 

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 sins. – Hebrews 10:1-4

 

The law is only a shadow of good things to come, the heavenly realities proclaimed and lived out by Jesus. That’s why the law was able to be reinterpreted by Jesus, because He knew its true meaning. Moses received the law originally as a detailed code for behavior, not just for worship and atonement, but for proper living in the ordinary matters of life. Does this statement here mean that it was actually useless? Were all those sacrifices for nothing, since the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins? Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Justification has always been by faith, sola fide, as propounded by Martin Luther. Even an Old Testament sacrifice had to be accompanied by faith for it to have any meaning at all for the one offering it. The sacrifice by itself did nothing at all.

 

For the people of Israel, the required sacrifices became routine, repeated endlessly year after year, as it says here. It is very easy for people to slip into religious habits or rituals that they repeat over and over, almost without thinking. We can do this even as Christians and become numb to what God would like to do. The transforming and perfecting work of the Holy Spirit in someone can easily be stymied by a lack of faith. Even among those offering the sacrifices sincerely there was no sense that this was a permanent solution to the problem of sin. Slipping back into any kind of sin would mean that a new sacrifice would be required next week or next year. The blood of Jesus on the other hand cleanses us once and for all. Yes, we have to keep repenting and asking for forgiveness, but we do not have to offer another sacrifice. The reality is that Jesus has paid the price for our salvation, and we can receive his grace each day by faith.

 

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said:

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,

    but a body You prepared for Me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
    You were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about Me in the scroll—
    I have come to do Your will, My God.’” – Hebrews 10:5-7

 

The words of David in Psalm 40 are being prophetically applied to Jesus, who came in the flesh, incarnated in the body prepared for Him. This particular line quoted here in Hebrews about “a body prepared for Me” is actually rendered as “My ears You have opened” or even “My ears You have pierced” in Psalm 40. Opening of ears gives the sense of being ready to listen and obey the word of God. The piercing of ears may refer to the Old Testament practice of piercing a slave’s ear to mark a lifetime commitment to his master. So all three versions of this line could apply to Jesus and His submission and dependence on the Father.

 

When he was composing these lines, David may have been recalling the way that Saul was rejected for not obeying the Lord’s command. God had told Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites, but Saul had held back some of the best of the animals that they captured. When the prophet Samuel confronted Saul about this in 1 Samuel 15, Saul defended himself by saying that they had kept the animals to later sacrifice to the Lord.

 

But Samuel replied:

“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.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
    and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
    He has rejected you as king.” – 1 Samuel 15: 22-23

 

God was looking at Saul’s rebellious and arrogant heart and would not have been pleased with any sacrifices that he made. In contrast, David would say and later Jesus would echo, “I have come to do Your will, my God.” This was never Saul’s attitude. You may wonder about that line that says, “It is written about Me in the scroll.” It is not completely clear what David would have been referring to with this, but for both David and Jesus it may have been an indication that they were applying God’s word to themselves, making it personal. I hope you have had that experience of reading something in the Bible and thinking, this is about me! It’s as though this was written about my situation. God can still speak to us that way, encouraging, confronting, or directing us. Let’s carry on in Hebrews 10, where it reiterates how Jesus came to do God’s will:

 

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 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 has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. – Hebrews 10: 8-14

 

Jesus’ death on the cross was not just a sacrifice for sin. He also established His supremacy over Satan and all of his evil ways. Jesus’ victory on the cross was complete, but Satan is still active in the world, fully knowing that he is doomed but trying anyway to turn people away from God. Jesus is waiting therefore for His spiritual enemies to be completely subjugated and made His footstool, which will happen at the final judgment. Satan and all his forces will be destroyed in the lake of fire.

 

A parallel process to Satan being defeated and yet still active is found for us in verse 14. We have been made perfect and yet are still being made holy. God sees us as perfect, because by grace we have received the righteousness of Jesus. But even after receiving this wonderful salvation our hearts are never completely aligned with what God wants. We still turn away from Him at times and sin. In that sense there is still some holiness to attain. Each and every day we still need the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

 

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. – Hebrews 10:15-18

 

These quotations are from Jeremiah 31, where God is promising to establish a new covenant with the people of Israel. The sacrifice of Jesus would not only wipe the slate clean of all the people’s sin, but the work of the Holy Spirit would also bring this salvation to life in the hearts of those who would receive it, giving them the knowledge and the motivation and indeed the power to live the way God wants. “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” That’s how the New Living Translation puts Philippians 2:13. God gives us the power and desire to live a godly life. Continuing in Hebrews 10,

 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 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. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 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. – Hebrews 10:19-25

 

This passage is the heart of this chapter. What does this new covenant mean for us and for all of God’s people who have been saved by His grace? I see three major points here. First, we can approach God with confidence. We don’t have to worry about being worthy or acceptable. We come with the full assurance of faith. The new and living way has been opened by Jesus, our great priest. The curtain between the people and the Most Holy Place was torn top to bottom when Jesus died on the cross. This barrier in the temple was pierced in the same way that Jesus was pierced with a spear, hence the connection here between the curtain and his body. The blood and water that poured from his side were like the atoning blood of the sacrifice sprinkled on those seeking forgiveness and the cleansing water of baptism. The sprinkling here may be a reference to Exodus 24, where God confirms his covenant with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai:

 

When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.

 

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”

 

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” – Exodus 24:3-8

 

The people promised to obey the Lord, but we know that shortly after this they were giving up on the true God and making a golden calf to worship. But God did not violate the covenant; He remained faithful. Returning to our passage in Hebrews, here is the second point: hope in the faithfulness of God. As it says in 2 Timothy 2, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” This then is the basis of our hope: all of God’s promises remain secure. God never gives up – He will always pursue a relationship with people. If we turn toward Him, He will always turn toward us.

 

The outworking of this hope is in encouragement, the third point in this paragraph. Any hope that we have needs to be passed on to others. That is why we gather as God’s people each Sunday – and informally at many other times. Some people have interpreted this verse to mean that all Christians should be regular church attendees. But its significance is much bigger than that. Church is fine, but any encounter that we have should be taken as an opportunity to encourage each other toward love and good deeds. Mutual encouragement is so important in our Christian walk. We so easily falter on our own. We lose hope. We can get down on ourselves. We can get lazy or complacent. God has given us the fellowship of body of Christ so that we can pick each other up when we fall down for any reason. As it says in Ecclesiastes 4,

 

Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

 

We know that the third strand in any meaningful relationship needs to be the Holy Spirit. This passage is often used in talking about marriage, but it actually applies to any relationship. Jesus said, “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” So let us consider how to spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews says this is all the more important as you see the Day approaching. Each day moves us closer to the Lord’s return. And it certainly seems that encouragement is an increasingly vital need in our world today.

 

So our spiritual and interpersonal lives should be marked by confidence, hope, and encouragement. Our chapter in Hebrews then shift gears and presents a dire warning.

 

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 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? For we know Him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. – Hebrews 10:26-31

 

These verses harken back to our discussion of the unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Here it talks about insulting the Spirit of grace. A person becomes an enemy of God by persisting in the sin of apostasy that we covered in chapter 6. This is the same warning repeated here. In some sense, a person could be sanctified but then treat as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant. Apostates will be consumed by fire, it says here. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. This reminds me of a famous sermon given by Jonathan Edwards in 1741: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This sermon uses vivid imagery to describe the torments of hell but also presents the “extraordinary opportunity” afforded by Christ flinging the door of mercy wide open. Jonathan Edwards was a graduate of Yale, and one of the residential colleges at that university is named after him. When I walked by it a couple of years ago I wondered how many of the students there had seriously considered the message so fervently preached by this Puritan minister. Not many people in our world today are worried about falling into the hands of the living God. But the Lord will judge His people, it says here. This reminded me of 1 Peter 4:17 which says, “It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.” But this judgment is not the eternal punishment awaiting unrepentant sinners. It is intended as discipline to refine us as individuals and as a body. This is explained in 1 Corinthians 11:32: “When we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” 

 

Continuing on in Hebrews 10, there is now a word of encouragement.

 

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 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. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.  – Hebrews 10:32-36

 

Suffering has and will come. Even if we are not directly persecuted as believers, we need to stand with those who are. What are we prepared to risk or give up to follow Christ? Are you prepared to joyfully accept the confiscation of your property? I’m not sure how joyful I might be. It would be a hard thing. But we do have better and lasting possessions in heaven. We can press on in faith in light of the last two verses here. Our confidence in God will be richly rewarded. When we are committed to follow His will, we will experience the fulfillment of all of His great and precious promises.

 

For,in just a little while,
”He who is coming will come
    and will not delay.”

And,

“But My righteous one will live by faith.
    And I take no pleasure
    in the one who shrinks back.” 

 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. – Hebrews 10:37-39

 

These quotes come in a general way from Habakkuk 2. The prophet looks forward to a revelation to come in the future, which we now see to be ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus, both in His incarnation and in His second coming, which we wait for in hope. The righteous living by faith is a truth picked up in Romans and Galatians as well as here in Hebrews. Abraham is presented as an example of a righteous person who lived by faith. Indeed faith is not just the basis of salvation from sin and death, it is also the way we should respond and relate to God each day. This is the lead-in to chapter 11, the wonderful chapter filled with examples of faith.

 

So what are our takeaways from Hebrews 10? What does it mean to live by faith in a faithful God?

 

Faith in God and his promises is the basis both for eternal salvation and for daily life.

We will see God’s promises fulfilled in our lives as we persevere in doing His will.

Obedience is more important than sacrifice. God is more concerned about our hearts than about our external performance.

We can approach God with confidence and with assurance of his hearing us because of Jesus opening the way.

Our hope for the future is based only on the faithfulness of God. There is really no hope apart from God.

Every relationship we have can be an opportunity for mutual encouragement and support, spurring one another on toward love and good deeds.