March 17, 2023 | Be On Mission
Jesus' One-Time Sacrifice & Our Daily Perseverance
Scripture: Hebrews 10 (NIV)
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.’”
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.”
17 Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”
18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 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. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 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.
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 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? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 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. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”
38 And,
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Devotional
In the last two devotions we have focused on the words covenant and blood. Today we focus on the word sacrifice, and how Christ’s sacrifice is far superior to the animal sacrifices of the old covenant. What do verses 1-4 teach us about the insufficiency of these animal sacrifices? Now, what do verses 5-10 teach us about the superiority of the sacrifice of Christ?
This section of Hebrews concludes with some challenges for those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. How does each one impact how you see yourself as a follower of Jesus? Take a look…
“We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (v. 10).
“For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (v. 14).
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings” (v. 22).
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (v. 23).
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (v. 24).
Let us not give up “meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing” (v. 25).
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left” (v. 26)
Prayer
Dear Jesus, thank You for offering Yourself as the ultimate one time sacrifice for all our sins, cleansing us before God. Thank You for being faithful and always keeping Your promises. Fill us with the Holy Spirit’s desire for us to continue to meet together, love, and encourage each other as we persevere in this world. Help us never lose the assured hope and peace in being saved in faith through You. In Your name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Poem
It
Hebrews 10-13
When I did IT,
I knew IT was wrong.
IT was against everything I had been taught as a child.
IT was dangerous.
IT was seductive.
IT was a turning point in my life, a turning away.
I remember inviting IT in.
I welcomed IT into my home, my temple.
I welcomed IT—the enemy.
I committed treason.
I was the Judas.
I took the forbidden fruit and savored IT.
As the juice ran down my chin,
I felt a stain.
I understood in the depths of my soul
Eve’s frantic search for a place to hide.
O, that the jungle of the world would swallow me up.
I heard the Lord’s footsteps.
He was calling my name.
“Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7)
I hid behind the spider’s web of lies,
only to get caught in sticky situations.
I hid behind the bush of appearances,
only to get stabbed by its thorns.
I ran to the cave of guilt and sat in its darkness,
only to find the hibernating bear of shame awaking from its winter’s nap.
Anything that happened that the world saw as “hard times,”
I viewed as justified punishment and curse from my Lord and Master.
Loruhamah—I will no longer have pity on your house.
Loammi—for you are not my people and I am not your God. (Hosea 1:6-8)
What shall I do with you? (Hosea 6:4)
“Forgive me, Lord,” I prayed in silence.
Silence returned.
Many saw my struggle.
“You have asked God to forgive you.”
“It’s over; it’s done.”
“Trust God’s eternal gift in Jesus Christ.”
But IT was not over.
IT was not done.
I felt the back of God—
God’s turning away from me.
I felt like an abandoned lover,
crawling through the mud after a relationship that could never be resurrected.
That relationship was what was over.
That relationship was what was done.
When the time of confession came in weekly corporate worship,
IT always vied for central attention.
IT shook the chains and tugged at the choking slave collar.
I wanted to run to the front and expose my shame,
to have IT publicly scandalized,
to beg for mercy.
Yet I remained shackled to my pew.
One day, a different setting
Here was an invitation to come forward.
Here was and invitation to come and be prayed for.
Here was an invitation to come and confess.
Did I dare come in my dirty sodden rags?
Did I dare speak the hidden IT?
Did I dare trust the priesthood of believers?
If I confessed IT, my sin,
and gave back the thirty pieces of silver,
would they release Jesus from the cross;
or would they laugh the cynical laugh of Caiphas and say,
“What is that to us? See to it yourself.” (Matthew 27:3-5)
I had to risk truth or commit spiritual suicide.
I was close to death any way;
what did I have to lose?
I knelt.
I bawled.
I spoke IT out loud.
I told the truth.
I felt hands on my head;
hands of the incarnate Christ.
I heard the words,
“In the name of Jesus Christ,
by the power of his blood
you are forgiven and clean.”
I felt chains fall.
I saw IT bound and led away.
“Who sinned?”
I heard the accuser, Lucifer
cry out in a last stitch effort
to justly free IT.
“This one or her parents?”
“Neither this one nor her parents sinned;
she was born blind
so that God’s works might be revealed
in her,” (John 9:2-3)
I saw my Lord and Lover’s smile.
He had returned to me.
“IT is finished,” he said.
“It is finished.”
My spoken truth
joined the Truth of God
and spoke into being
a new Creation.
A new Eden.
A new Life.
