Shownotes
Welcome to Day 2264 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews-16 One for All, Once for All, Free for All – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 08/13/2023 One for All, Once for All, Free for All Hebrews 10:1-18 As we continued our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament last week, we learned that to have hope of a future reward /and peace and joy in the present world, /we must embrace and embody the truth that we can escape tomorrow's judgment because today’s sin is forgivable. This week, we will explore the Great Benefits for Believers because of Christ’s One-for-All, Once-for-All, and Free-for-All sacrifice. Let’s read Hebrews 10:1-18 on page 1872 of your Pew Bible. 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 worshipers 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. 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.’”[a] 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. 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 forever 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.”[b] 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”[c] 18 And where these have been forgiven, /sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. I’ve never had anybody tell me that when they get starving, they grab an illustrated cookbook (show cookbooks) from the shelf and thumb through recipes. If anything, ogling those masterfully prepared dishes presented in glossy, colorful prints will make somebody even hungrier. And when a person is famished, even reading step-by-step, “how-to” instructions with words like “roast,” “braise,” “sauté,” and “bake” can make the mouth water. Nobody would finish flipping through a cookbook, place it on the shelf, and say, “Well, I’m full. Pass me the dessert recipes.” Trying to be physically nourished by the recipes in a cookbook is just as foolish as trying to be spiritually satisfied by the rituals of the Law. And, like the pictures in this illustrated cookbook, the Law anticipates and points to something far superior—the reality of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for sin. The Law made people hungry for something of real substance, something that would last, that would finally and ultimately take away the gut-wrenching guilt of sin and soothe the conscience with mercy and grace. The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. NLT (10:1). In this section on Hebrews 10:1–18, we will examine the limitations and purpose of the Law—what it can’t do and what it continually does (10:1–4). We’ll explore the contrast between the old covenant Law and the superior priesthood of Christ—how His offering of his own body was one for all, once for all, and free for all (10:5–14). Then, we’ll see the benefits of Christ’s person and work for us today (10:15–18). 10:1–4 (Bulletin Insert) The author’s thesis statement is summed up succinctly in 10:1: The Law was merely “a shadow of the good things that are coming.” As such, it served a valid purpose in God’s unfolding history of redemption but was limited in what it could accomplish. Just like a cookbook cannot satisfy hunger, the Law couldn’t “make perfect those who draw near” because of the animal sacrifices made repeatedly, year after year. In the following few verses, the writer proves his claim by pointing out the obvious inferiority of the Law in cleansing the believer’s conscience. Let me share another illustration. Imagine if a married couple had to run back to the altar and get remarried every time they got into an argument. Or if they had to buy a marriage license, find a judge or preacher, and exchange vows every time they had a break in their relationship. Thankfully, marriage doesn’t work that way. It takes just one trip to the altar for a bride and groom to be married. No matter how frequent or loud the fights or how excellent the personal connection is, there’s never a legal need to go through a second ceremony … a third … or a fourth. Only if a couple was legally divorced would a second marriage be required. Continual marriage ceremonies would imply a repeated state of being unmarried. In such a scenario, there would be no security. It would hardly be a marriage at all. This is what it was like with the sacrificial system in the Law. If the Law had been able to perfectly and completely deal with the relationship-breaking power of sin and guilt, there wouldn’t have been a need for a continual return to the altar (10:2). All the guilt would have been gone—banished when the blood was spilled,/ forgotten when the sacrificial lamb went up in smoke. However, the author is careful not to disparage the Law. The sacrifices were not foolish, meaningless, or sinful. They were, after all, decreed by God and served a purpose. But what was the purpose of the Law? He says in 10:3, But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. Commentator David Gooding says, "At no point did they feel that the price of sin had finally been paid completely. If they had, they would not have offered another sacrifice ever. After all, you don’t keep paying monthly installments when the mortgage on your house has been completely paid off.” (Bulletin) If the author of Hebrews could have used bold font, 10:4 probably would have been emphasized. It represents the clear, concise explanation for the assertion in 10:1, that the sacrifices can never make worshipers perfect: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (10:4). Underscore the word impossible. Not improbable, not difficult, not unlikely, not rare. IMPOSSIBLE! Notice that it wasn’t simply rendered impossible because of the death of Christ. The context refers to the sacrifices' limitations under the Old Testament Law. The blood of animal sacrifices has always been impossible to take away sins. If the sacrifices did anything permanently, it reminded the people of Israel of their sinfulness. Just as a speed limit sign reminds us of the law, and a speeding ticket reminds us of our guilt, the Law and the sacrifices constantly remind us of sin (Rom. 3:20–23). 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses[a] and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Under the old system, Israel’s national sins accumulated daily over the course of the year; then, the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement temporarily covered them. They accumulated again the next year; the Day of Atonement covered them again. The old covenant kept kicking the can down the road. But that system of endless blood got old. 10:5–14 Paraphrasing Psalm 40:6–8, in verses (5-7), the author of Hebrews contrasts the once-for-all coming of Christ with the over-and-over-again sacrificial system. He sets up the quote with the word “therefore”— because the blood of animals could never take away sins, the Son of God came into the world. He did what nothing and no one else could do. Ultimately, God doesn’t desire “sacrifice and offering” as a means of complete cleansing and total forgiveness (Heb. 10:5)—a thought that is paralleled in 10:6. For eternal salvation, God took no pleasure in the endless line of smoke ascending from the altar as the priests carried out the prescribed sacrifices. This passage presents compelling contrasts between the two sacrificial systems. Under the old system, the shed blood or burnt carcass of a brute beast brought no lasting satisfaction to God. The death of an animal on a physical altar for sins committed under an earthly covenant had no effect for the spiritual guilt of sin before a holy God. When it came to animal sacrifices, the beasts were offered against their will. At best, the animal would stand in ignorance and submit to the knife. In fact, under this system, even the worshipers bringing the animals, or the priests presenting the sacrifices, could do so without understanding, emotion, or will. Monotonous routines can reduce a meaningful rite to a mindless ritual. Here, the contrast with Christ stands out. With God’s Son, a real will was involved—a truly human choice that submitted obediently to the will of the Father (Matt. 26:42). Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away[a] unless I drink it, your will be done.” Of course, for there to be a truly human person with mind, emotion, and will who would voluntarily submit to God, the divine Son had to take on true humanity. Thus, in 10:5, the author paraphrased a line from Psalm 40:6—“My ears you have opened”—expanding the whole for the part: “A body you have prepared for me” (Heb. 10:5). The author isn’t playing fast and loose with the text, changing it at will. He follows a reading of the Greek translation of the Hebrew psalm, which replaced “ears” /with “body,” the whole /in place of the part. He did so with good reason: For the Son of God to have real ears to be opened to receive God’s word of command, He had to have a body! Allen notes, “Only through the full incarnation can Jesus accomplish the will of God to do away with sin.” Having taken on full humanity in the incarnation—body, soul, spirit, heart, mind, emotion, will—the Son of God came to do God’s will in fulfillment of everything written about Him in the Old Testament (10:7). In doing this, He essentially set aside the old, inferior system of the Law and its sacrifices to accomplish on behalf of humanity what no other human could have achieved—complete obedience to the Father (10:8–9). What was impossible for frail, fallible, fallen humans was possible only for the powerful, perfect, pure God-man, Jesus. And Jesus accomplished the permanent cleansing that could never have occurred through animal sacrifices: “For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.” (10:10). NLT. The author reminds his readers that priests must offer sacrifices continually—those sacrifices that can never take away sins. As such, the priest “stands daily” to carry out the laborious, bloody sacrifices over and over again (10:11). In contrast to the priests’ “standing” ministry, when Jesus finished His ministry, he “sat down at the right hand of God” because His “one sacrifice” accomplished for all time what could never have been achieved by the daily sacrifices: complete payment for sins (10:12). Right before Christ died on the cross he shouted “ It Is Finished! Or, as the writer of Hebrews puts it, “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (10:14). Now, Christ sits enthroned at the right hand of the Father, awaiting the time of His second coming, when His enemies will be ultimately defeated in judgment, and the kingdom of God will be manifested in its fullness as he establishes His Kingdom in the new Global Eden (10:13). 10:15–18 Finally, the author points out the benefits of Christ’s superior priesthood. He returns to the language of the new covenant and reminds his readers of what Christ has accomplished through His once-for-all sacrifice for sin. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. (10:15)—that is, to believers—that the new arrangement will put the law in our hearts and minds (10:16), signifying an internal transformation with eternal effects: Our sins will be forgiven and remembered no more (10:17). This new arrangement, made possible through Christ, brings all the necessary resources and places them within us. As the apostle Peter put it: By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. (2 Pet. 1:3). The sin issue that had destroyed our relationship with God and hindered righteousness and spiritual growth has been dealt with. And more than that, we have a new ability to follow in Christ’s footsteps—to offer our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. (Rom. 12:1). The Hebrew believers who had been slipping backward into their old fascination with the Law and its sacrifices needed to be reminded of its limitations. They had to hear in no uncertain terms that the blood of animal sacrifices couldn't take away sins (Heb. 10:4). Essentially, they needed to listen to the good news that the perfect sacrifice of Christ was one for all, once for all, and free for all. APPLICATION: HEBREWS 10:1–18 Great Benefits for Believers (Bulletin Insert) Because of Christ's one-for-all, once-for-all, free-for-all sacrifice, we can serve God out of gratitude for His work of grace. We do not need to grudgingly drag our feet when He says “Go” or cringe when He says “Come.” The superior priesthood of Christ has ushered us into a life of righteousness motivated by grace, not guilt. We don’t live by a Levitical checklist of rules, regulations, and rituals, but by the law of love brought to us by the righteousness of Christ in us. Christ bought us with His blood so He could free us from sin and the constraining shackles (chains) of the Law that could only remind us of our sinfulness. The primary difference between the new and old covenant is that we now have the Law in our hearts instead of an external standard of stone (Jer. 31:31–33). The power of God’s Spirit residing within us is sufficient for us to live life fully, fruitfully, and freely, unfettered from the shackles of sin and from slavery to legalism. Let’s look at each of these benefits of Christ’s perfect sacrifice. (1st Benefit) In Christ, we can now live life fully....Transcripts
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews-16 One for All, Once for All, Free for All – Daily Wisdom
/:One for All, Once for All, Free for All
Hebrews 10:1-18
As we continued our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament last week, we learned that to have hope of a future reward /and peace and joy in the present world, /we must embrace and embody the truth that we can escape tomorrow's judgment because today’s sin is forgivable.
This week, we will explore the Great Benefits for Believers because of Christ’s One-for-All, Once-for-All, and Free-for-All sacrifice.
on page: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 worshipers 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.
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.’”[a]
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.
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 forever 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.”[b]
17 Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”[c]
18 And where these have been forgiven, /sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
I’ve never had anybody tell me that when they get starving, they grab an illustrated cookbook (show cookbooks) from the shelf and thumb through recipes. If anything, ogling those masterfully prepared dishes presented in glossy, colorful prints will make somebody even hungrier. And when a person is famished, even reading step-by-step, “how-to” instructions with words like “roast,” “braise,” “sauté,” and “bake” can make the mouth water. Nobody would finish flipping through a cookbook, place it on the shelf, and say, “Well, I’m full. Pass me the dessert recipes.”
Trying to be physically nourished by the recipes in a cookbook is just as foolish as trying to be spiritually satisfied by the rituals of the Law. And, like the pictures in this illustrated cookbook, the Law anticipates and points to something far superior—the reality of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for sin. The Law made people hungry for something of real substance, something that would last, that would finally and ultimately take away the gut-wrenching guilt of sin and soothe the conscience with mercy and grace. The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. NLT (10:1).
person and work for us today (:10:1–4 (Bulletin Insert)
The author’s thesis statement is summed up succinctly in 10:1: The Law was merely “a shadow of the good things that are coming.” As such, it served a valid purpose in God’s unfolding history of redemption but was limited in what it could accomplish. Just like a cookbook cannot satisfy hunger, the Law couldn’t “make perfect those who draw near” because of the animal sacrifices made repeatedly, year after year. In the following few verses, the writer proves his claim by pointing out the obvious inferiority of the Law in cleansing the believer’s conscience.
Let me share another illustration. Imagine if a married couple had to run back to the altar and get remarried every time they got into an argument. Or if they had to buy a marriage license, find a judge or preacher, and exchange vows every time they had a break in their relationship. Thankfully, marriage doesn’t work that way. It takes just one trip to the altar for a bride and groom to be married. No matter how frequent or loud the fights or how excellent the personal connection is, there’s never a legal need to go through a second ceremony … a third … or a fourth. Only if a couple was legally divorced would a second marriage be required. Continual marriage ceremonies would imply a repeated state of being unmarried. In such a scenario, there would be no security. It would hardly be a marriage at all.
This is what it was like with the sacrificial system in the Law. If the Law had been able to perfectly and completely deal with the relationship-breaking power of sin and guilt, there wouldn’t have been a need for a continual return to the altar (10:2). All the guilt would have been gone—banished when the blood was spilled,/ forgotten when the sacrificial lamb went up in smoke.
However, the author is careful not to disparage the Law. The sacrifices were not foolish, meaningless, or sinful. They were, after all, decreed by God and served a purpose. But what was the purpose of the Law? He says in 10:3, But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. Commentator David Gooding says, "At no point did they feel that the price of sin had finally been paid completely. If they had, they would not have offered another sacrifice ever. After all, you don’t keep paying monthly installments when the mortgage on your house has been completely paid off.”
(Bulletin)
If the author of Hebrews could have used bold font, 10:4 probably would have been emphasized. It represents the clear, concise explanation for the assertion in 10:1, that the sacrifices can never make worshipers perfect: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (10:4). Underscore the word impossible. Not improbable, not difficult, not unlikely, not rare. IMPOSSIBLE!
Notice that it wasn’t simply rendered impossible because of the death of Christ. The context refers to the sacrifices' limitations under the Old Testament Law. The blood of animal sacrifices has always been impossible to take away sins.
If the sacrifices did anything permanently, it reminded the people of Israel of their sinfulness. Just as a speed limit sign reminds us of the law, and a speeding ticket reminds us of our guilt, the Law and the sacrifices constantly remind us of sin (Rom. 3:20–23). 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses[a] and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Under the old system, Israel’s national sins accumulated daily over the course of the year; then, the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement temporarily covered them. They accumulated again the next year; the Day of Atonement covered them again. The old covenant kept kicking the can down the road. But that system of endless blood got old.
10:5–14
Paraphrasing Psalm 40:6–8, in verses (5-7), the author of Hebrews contrasts the once-for-all coming of Christ with the over-and-over-again sacrificial system. He sets up the quote with the word “therefore”— because the blood of animals could never take away sins, the Son of God came into the world. He did what nothing and no one else could do. Ultimately, God doesn’t desire “sacrifice and offering” as a means of complete cleansing and total forgiveness (Heb. 10:5)—a thought that is paralleled in 10:6. For eternal salvation, God took no pleasure in the endless line of smoke ascending from the altar as the priests carried out the prescribed sacrifices.
the will of the Father (Matt.:Of course, for there to be a truly human person with mind, emotion, and will who would voluntarily submit to God, the divine Son had to take on true humanity. Thus, in 10:5, the author paraphrased a line from Psalm 40:6—“My ears you have opened”—expanding the whole for the part: “A body you have prepared for me” (Heb. 10:5). The author isn’t playing fast and loose with the text, changing it at will. He follows a reading of the Greek translation of the Hebrew psalm, which replaced “ears” /with “body,” the whole /in place of the part. He did so with good reason: For the Son of God to have real ears to be opened to receive God’s word of command, He had to have a body! Allen notes, “Only through the full incarnation can Jesus accomplish the will of God to do away with sin.”
hrist, once for all time.” (: crifices over and over again (:10:15–18
testifies to us about this. (:This new arrangement, made possible through Christ, brings all the necessary resources and places them within us. As the apostle Peter put it: By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. (2 Pet. 1:3). The sin issue that had destroyed our relationship with God and hindered righteousness and spiritual growth has been dealt with. And more than that, we have a new ability to follow in Christ’s footsteps—to offer our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. (Rom. 12:1).
The Hebrew believers who had been slipping backward into their old fascination with the Law and its sacrifices needed to be reminded of its limitations. They had to hear in no uncertain terms that the blood of animal sacrifices couldn't take away sins (Heb. 10:4). Essentially, they needed to listen to the good news that the perfect sacrifice of Christ was one for all, once for all, and free for all.
APPLICATION: HEBREWS 10:1–18 Great Benefits for Believers
(Bulletin Insert) Because of Christ's one-for-all, once-for-all, free-for-all sacrifice, we can serve God out of gratitude for His work of grace. We do not need to grudgingly drag our feet when He says “Go” or cringe when He says “Come.” The superior priesthood of Christ has ushered us into a life of righteousness motivated by grace, not guilt. We don’t live by a Levitical checklist of rules, regulations, and rituals, but by the law of love brought to us by the righteousness of Christ in us. Christ bought us with His blood so He could free us from sin and the constraining shackles (chains) of the Law that could only remind us of our sinfulness.
ernal standard of stone (Jer.:(1st Benefit)
ch and satisfying life. (John:(2nd Benefit) In Christ, we can now live life fruitfully. Peter wrapped up his litany of magnificent promises that are ours in Christ with the assurance that we would be neither “useless nor unfruitful” in our new position in Christ (2 Pet. 1:8). The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s focus on this aspect of the abiding, internal work of the Holy Spirit, who produces fruit through His inner work (see Phil. 2:12–13). Take a few minutes to study Galatians 5:16–23. Answer a few important questions as you work through this text: What does this passage teach about the ministry of the Holy Spirit? How does this differ from life under the Law? How does the fruit of the Spirit fulfill the spirit of the Law?
(3rd Benefit) In Christ, we can now live life freely. Galatians 5 begins with an important reminder for those seeking to find freedom under the old Law: So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. (Gal. 5:1). (Chain) Rites and rituals, dos and don’ts—these may bring a modicum of comfort to people, like riding the rails on a train track. But those who limit themselves to the rails will fail to experience the freedom that drivers have on the open road … or the unlimited possibilities that pilots have in the open sky. Christ bids us to take His hand and fly with Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. You can decide right now to let the yoke of slavery fall from your neck—not to be free to sin, but to be free to live a life of righteousness in the joy of gratitude and the assurance of grace. Christ has set us free. Live like it!
Next week, Paula and I will be away for the Podcasting Conference, but John Kuch will bring another great lesson on Timothy. 1 Timothy 4:12-16