Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Hebrews 10. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Understanding God, His will, and what He has done for us in Christ Jesus is quite clear and fairly simple – as set forth in the pages of Holy Scripture. However, given the scrambling that sin has done to our minds and hearts, what is quite simple is actually quite complicated for us – and the majority of people continue to struggle with misunderstandings of God and His will.
- We should not be surprised at this – unless we have naively refused to contemplate how our own most basic and cherished ideas about God are refuted and condemned in the pages of Holy Scripture, the Word of God. The fact is, we must continually be re-educated by the Words written in Scripture, and re-convinced over and over again in regard to the facts.
- The history recorded in Scripture – of the behaviors of people, of the beliefs of people, of the arguments that people have had with the prophets, with Jesus Himself, and with the apostles – is clear evidence of this informational and educational struggle. And as we read and learn more of the Scriptures we clearly see ourselves in the accounts of these fallen people.
- Our text speaks of “sacrifices and offerings,” and virtually all religious people think that this is what God desires – and these things have a purpose if properly understood. But they are also subject to gross misunderstanding, and such misunderstandings have led to the genesis of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and many other cults and sects, and many aberrant strains of so-called “Christianity.”
- Our text sets the record straight and presses a proper understanding of God and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts and minds. It distinguishes between two “wills” of God – the first which is “according to the law,” but then a “second” will of God that has been established upon the abolition of the first.
- This is the gist of the presentation in our text, and we are all encouraged to grasp and understand “THE NEW WILL OF GOD,” that we may rejoice in Christ Jesus by faith, and allow God to “sanctify” us “through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.” First we must understand that:
I. When Christ Came Into The World As The Lamb Of God He Announced Unequivocally That God Rejects Sacrifices And Sin Offerings As A Basis For His Relationship With Human Beings
Text: “When Christ came into the world, He said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but a body You have prepared for Me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no pleasure.’”
Statement: Sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sin offerings – according to our text – are “offered according to the law.” The law tells us what we are to do and not to do; it promises reward to those who keep the law and threatens punishment to those who violate the law, those who sin. This makes sense to us – that since everything else in human life is based in our performance, that our relationship with God should be the same. However, our text, the Word of God makes it clear: “He abolishes the first will in order to establish the second.”
Application: This clear statement of reality should give all of us pause for thought. What does it mean that the “first will,” which is based in law and hence our performance has been abolished? How are we to understand that God no longer wills to relate to us on the basis of our performance – that He no longer wants us to make “sin offerings”? The answer is clear – God does not desire them, He takes no pleasure in them, and He has abolished them as relevant in His relating to human beings.
Transition: This is freeing in a sense – it means that all obligation has been removed from us. But it is also frightening – for now all control of our ultimate destiny, which is determined by a Higher Power, by God Himself, is not in our hands or influenced in any way by us. Rather, it is completely one-sided – determined solely by God. This is terrifying – but only if we do not know God, and do not understand what He has done for us in sending His Son, Jesus the Christ, into the world and “preparing” a body for Him. Our text also clarifies this for us, that:
II. Jesus, By His Offering Of His Body, Has Established The New Will Of God – And This Is Our Sanctification [Our Purification]
Text: “But a body You have prepared for Me; . . . Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll of the Book.’ . . . Behold, I have come to do Your will. He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And by that will [the second, THE NEW WILL OF GOD] we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Is. 53:5,6 “But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Is. 53:10,11 “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the WILL of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the Righteous One, My Servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.”
Statement: This is “THE NEW WILL OF GOD.” It is the legally binding basis that God has established in Christ Jesus for relating to mankind. It is established by “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,” as “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” “He is the blood atonement for our sin, and not for ours only, but also for the sin of the whole world.” [Jn. 1:29; 1 Jn. 2:2] “He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement [punishment] that brought us peace.” “The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” “It was the WILL of the LORD to crush Him” to “make His soul an offering for guilt.” He makes “many to be accounted righteous.”
Application: And “by that WILL we have been sanctified [made holy, accounted righteous] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” It is quite clear and simple – but our sense and intellect, scrambled by sin and guilt, makes it difficult. We are incorrigibly compelled back to our own “sacrifices and offerings” that are “offered according to the law.” But these have been abolished – and all that we ever need for forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life, for peace with God and a renewal and transformation of our hearts and minds, has been established by the “second will,” “THE NEW WILL OF GOD,” in the Lord Jesus Christ, by His offering of His body.
Transition: This was accomplished some 2,000 years ago. It is not renegable or mutable or negotiable. It is not affected by whether we believe it or not, or whether the majority of human beings believe it or find it reasonable or not – because as God’s Word asserts of those who reject it: “They deny the Lord Who bought them.” [2 Pet. 2:1]
So, there are many who wish to be “sanctified,” made holy, and to commend themselves to God on the basis of their own sacrifices and offerings, their performance, but:
III. We Have Been Sanctified Through The Offering Of The Body Of Jesus Christ Once For All
Statement: This means that we are “justified by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.” This means that we are reconciled to God by His gracious love – not by any works which we do. This means that all “renewal” and “transformation” of our sinful nature comes solely by His love, by grasping this His love by faith.
Application: But this means clearly understanding that “He abolishes the first will in order to establish the second.” This is repudiation and condemnation of every religion in the world – all of which are based in what we offer “according to the law.” This first and abolished will makes sense to our corrupt nature, and we are constantly tempted to return to “law” – but God Himself has abolished this.
Conclusion: Finally, it is important to note the primacy of the “body” God prepared for Jesus Christ, and that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.” Jesus says of the bread of the Sacramental meal He instituted for His disciples: “This is My body” – the same body prepared for Him by God and the same body through which we are sanctified.
Of the cup He asserts: “This cup is the New Covenant [THE NEW WILL OF GOD] in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Sitting here before us on the altar are bread and wine – through which Christ assures us that we will receive His body and “THE NEW WILL OF GOD” in the reception of His blood.
These are clearly stated – but our minds, befogged by sin and unbelief – struggle to grasp and receive these realities. Let us hold on to “THE NEW WILL OF GOD,” and let us marvel to receive what the Christ provides for us in His Sacramental meal. It is all “once for all,” sure and certain – precisely because it all depends upon God and has been given to us by Him. All praise, honor, and glory be to Him forever, Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.