The impetus of Hebrews | Clip from Hebrews III: The Offering of the Body of Jesus

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Yeah, I just have to give a quick concession. I apologize to chapter 4.

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I apologize to chapter 9. But we want to look at Hebrews chapter 10 because, in my estimation, it's the core of the main theme beneath the superiority of Christ.

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The biggest of all the themes of Christ is superior. He's superior to angels,

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Moses, Aaron, sacrificial system. But in that superiority to Aaron in the

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Levitical priesthood, the biggest portion of Hebrews is Christ is the superior and final high priest.

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And that's what chapter 10 is really about. It culminates from chapter 5 through 10, this grand look at what

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Christ's priestly work has accomplished and why he is that adequate priest. So with that in mind,

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I would like to look at the first 14 verses of Hebrews 10, and I will read it for us.

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Hebrews 10, verse 1. There is a reminder of sins year by year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

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Therefore, when he, this is the sign, when he comes into the world, so we know we're talking about the

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Incarnation. Verse 5 again, therefore, when he comes into the world, he says,

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Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me.

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In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you have taken no pleasure. Then I said,

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Behold, I have come, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will,

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O God. After saying above, sacrifices, offerings, whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have not desired, nor have you taken pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law.

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Then he said, Behold, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

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By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

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Verse 11, every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

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But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.

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Verse 14, for by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

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So much could be said, we'll try to rein in our thoughts, but the main thing we have here is a picture of God the

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Son accomplishing what the Old Testament, in particular Psalm 40, said would happen.

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So Jordan, how does this portion of Scripture fit into the flow of the argument about Christ's superiority and dealing with all that Old Testament picture of priest, sacrifice, temple?

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We get the theme of Christ's priesthood throughout the whole letter of Hebrews. It's in chapter 1, we've already dealt with that.

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But really in chapters 5 through 10, that is the impetus of the whole content.

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So in chapter 5, he is designated a priest by God, spoken to him by the

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Father. He didn't take the honor to himself, it was assigned to him. And then that's walked out in the order of Melchizedek in chapter 7, and going into the

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Holy of Holies, chapter 8 and 9. But here in chapter 10, it's a picture of the

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Lord Jesus reading the Old Testament. I mentioned Psalm 40. But the flow, it's important to understand a little bit of what comes right before it, namely chapter 9.

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So what's happening in chapter 9 is the author of Hebrews is reminding the reader how the

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Old Testament sacrifice happened and where. And he's basically painting a picture of the tabernacle and the

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Holy of Holies in the beginning of chapter 9. He's even talking about the furniture and the Ark of the Covenant and the priest would go in once a year and he would sprinkle some blood.

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And then in chapter 9, verse 14, he turns the attention to Jesus and his high priestly work.

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And that verse, in a very beautiful, broader context, but I'll just read that one verse, says,

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How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal

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Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living

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God? He's saying these Old Testament priests and all their sacrifices can never do that. But you take the cumulative total of all of them and compare it to the one time sacrifice of Jesus and he can do what none of them could have ever done, namely cleanse your conscience from all your dead works.

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Basically, all your efforts to save yourself, to forgive yourself. We say a lot of times at Grace Church in Memphis that every contribution we try to make to our redemption only worsens our damnable predicament.

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It makes it worse. It's a thing for which we should be forgiven. And here the author is saying,

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Jesus' blood cleanses you from all of that. So in the middle of 14, we get that statement.

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But it starts getting really, really bloody after that.

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It's like Leviticus in the latter third of Hebrews 9.

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And to summarize, try to picture this. I'm a big fan of when you read the Bible, try to envision it. The author of Hebrews definitely wants you to see this.

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He talks about how Moses was commanded by God to take this cluster of hyssop, a plant, just a big cluster of just imagine long weeds, and to dip it in a basin of blood.

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So he's holding the stalks. He's got all these wisps of this hyssop.

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He dips it in this basin of blood, and then he starts just to sprinkle that blood all over the tabernacle, all over the furniture, everywhere.

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Then he turns his attention and puts it all over the book, the law, the inspired writings.

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The scrolls are doused in this animal sacrificial blood. And then, how would you have liked to have shown up to church on this day?

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He saturates all the people. You know, you wore your Sunday best, you just got your new suit, you know, straight out of the dry cleaners, and here's

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Moses just splattering blood all over the place. Everybody's dripping. But that is because God told him to.

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Why? Hebrews 9 tells us. Because that was a portrait, that was a picture of another bloody person who would go into a better tabernacle, the true holy of holies, with a better sacrifice.

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Not animals, not goats, not bulls. Chapter 10 just said, blood of bulls and goats, it's impossible for them to take away sin.

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Listen to chapter 9, verse 24. This is so beautiful. He, Jesus, the priest who is also the sacrifice, went into the holy of holies and now stands before the face of God for us.

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He brought all of his righteousness and all of his redeeming accomplishments, the cross, into the throne room of heaven.

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Not just to go to heaven for us, but 924, to bring that bloody sacrifice in front of the face of God for us.

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And chapter 10 then tells us how Jesus embraced the assignment from heaven to do that for our salvation.

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So that's how the flow works to get us up to chapter 10. And it's,

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I think, helpful to say, had what is found in chapter 10 not happened previously in Jesus' incarnation, somewhere along his earthly life and ministry, then all the glory of chapter 5 -9 never would have been accomplished.

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So chapter 10 is like, it tells us how we got there after it's told us in 5 -9 what was accomplished.

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So walk us through what comes next in chapter 10. Okay, I'll do my best.

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Here's a summary in one sentence. What happens in chapter 10 is at least one of Jesus' quiet times.

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It's Jesus, during his incarnation, reading the Psalms. It says in chapter 5, when he comes, verse 5, sorry, chapter 10, verse 5, when he comes into the world.

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So we know we're talking about earthly life and ministry, the incarnate Savior. When he comes into the world, he says, well, all the next words come straight out of Psalm 40.

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So we know Jesus is reading Psalm 40. And by divine illumination, somehow he is coming into increasing understanding that what's written in that Psalm is about himself.

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And about this bloody bodily sacrifice he is to make, according to the will of God, to verse 14 us, to sanctify us forever.

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So just to back up, chapter 10 is Jesus reading the Psalms and realizing it's about him being the once for all time priest and sacrifice.

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For the sanctification of the people of God forever. Thank you for watching the clip. We hope that it was helpful for you.

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