FBC Morning Light – September 22, 2022

The Levitical Sacrificial System and Its Endless Repetition

Well, a good Thursday morning to you. Hope your week is going well, and today has gotten off to a good start. I hope you were able to get into God's Word already today. If not yet, then maybe these few moments today will spur you on to take a few minutes to get into the Bible.

But let me ask you this, have you read recently the book of Leviticus? Probably not. It doesn't exactly rank up there as one of the most favorite books of Christians to read. But it is helpful to us to read that book from time to time.

If you go through the Bible once a year, you dig it through it once a year. But anyway, one of the things that's in that book is the Levitical law, it's the ceremonial law, and it describes all of the different sacrifices and offerings that have to be offered in that sacrificial system.

It's good to pay attention to those different sacrifices and notice how many there are. There are general sacrifices that are offered on the part of the priest for the whole country, for the whole nation.

Every morning, every evening, there were morning and evening sacrifices. Every year on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, there was the atonement sacrifice. There's the scapegoat offerings. And then there are the offerings that you as an individual would have to have offered.

So when you knowingly transgressed the law, you needed to offer a sin offering. When you unknowingly transgressed the law, you didn't realize you violated the law, but then when you found out, then you had to offer a sacrifice for that sin.

It was endless. It was endless. There were daily sacrifices that had to be offered on account of sin. Now the reason I bring that up is because the writer of Hebrews alludes to that Old Testament sacrificial system.

Christ’s Once-for-All Sacrifice in Hebrews 10

In Hebrews 10, where we are today, he says in verse 11 that every priest, that is the Levitical priest, stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

They can never once for all do away with sins. They can take care of the guilt of sins that have been committed, but they can't take away the sins of tomorrow. They can't deal with the sins of next week.

They don't have that ability. So the priest has to every day go into the holy place and offer these sacrifices, the burnt offerings. Every year, he's got to go into the Holy of Holies and offer the atonement sacrifice.

Every day has to offer the sacrifices that people bring because they're aware of transgression, their own transgressions of the law, and so on. It's endless. This is what the writer of Hebrews is saying.

Every priest stands ministering every day and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices. But no more. Why? Because of Christ. Because of Christ. So verse 12 goes on to say, but this man, referring to Jesus, but this man, after he offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, indicating the finished nature of that work.

He offered one sacrifice for sins forever. And that was it. That was it. It settled the matter for those who will turn from their sin and put their trust in him, calling upon him to save them from their sins.

A one-time sacrifice that deals with all of their sins forever. And then verse 14 goes on to say, and listen to the way this is worded. For by one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Perfection Forever and the Ongoing Work of Sanctification

Isn't that interesting, the tense of those verbs? By his one offering, he has perfected forever. That sacrifice of Christ on the cross of Calvary accomplished the perfection of every Christian. In God's sight, by God's grace, the application of the blood of Christ accomplishes your perfection forever.

It's settled. It's a done deal. It's accomplished. But then he goes on to say, it is accomplished for those who are being sanctified. So the destiny is settled, it is determined, perfection, glorification, it's already determined.

The process is guaranteed to accomplish its purpose. You are being sanctified. Little by little, day by day, you're growing more and more into the character of Christ, Christ-likeness, which is what God intends.

And little by little, day after day, the practice of sins is being dealt with. It's being gradually minimized. You are being sanctified. It's going to be completed in glorification, but it's a glorification that is secure and guaranteed.

Why? Because by his one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. The one sacrifice of Christ accomplished it all. Aren't you grateful today for the sacrifice of Christ, that he died on a cross and paid the penalty for all of your sins, past, present, and future.

And of course, all of your sins were future when he died on that cross to pay their penalty. So grateful for that work, so thankful for the secure outcome of that work. So let's give thanks and rejoice today in the one-time, permanent, effective sacrifice of Christ.

Thanksgiving for the Finished Work of Jesus

Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father, for the work of Jesus on the cross, that this one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, offered one sacrifice for our sins forever, and that he has already perfected us even as we are being sanctified.

We thank you for this. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, well have a wonderful Thursday, and I trust the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.