Sermon Synopsis
Hebrews 10:1–18 declares that the Old Testament sacrificial system was only a shadow pointing forward to Jesus Christ, whose one offering completely accomplished what repeated animal sacrifices never could. Through His perfect obedience and once-for-all sacrifice, believers are forgiven, sanctified, and given a perfect standing before God. Because Christ’s work is finished, Christians no longer need to live under the burden of perpetual guilt but may rest confidently in His complete forgiveness. This passage calls both wavering and steadfast believers to trust fully in Christ’s finished work and to live in grateful obedience because of His grace.
Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.
One Offering That Perfects Forever
Hebrews 10:1–18
Introduction
Good morning.
I think today’s message is going to be very short because Gen Singh covered most of it in his prayer just now.
I actually prepared two outlines—one standard version and one shorter version. Looking at the time, which do you suggest I use? Oh, the shorter one? Okay! We shall end on time.
The title for today’s sharing is “One Offering That Perfects Forever.”
Only five words, but they mean so much to believers. At the end of the day, the assurance we receive from today’s passage is unimaginable.
We can easily guess that the “one offering” refers to the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. He came into this world to offer Himself as an atonement for sinners like us, and He offered Himself only once because His sacrifice is perfect. Besides being offered only once, it is forever—everlasting and eternal. There is no repetition needed for this offering.
His death on the cross became that great and final sacrifice, accomplishing for eternity what no other sacrifices could ever do.
Last week, toward the end of Felix’s message, a slide was shown asking:
“Are you among those who are eagerly waiting for Him?”
The Lord will surely return. Acts 1 tells us:
“This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Are you eagerly waiting?
Among the four hundred or so of us seated here this morning, there may be a percentage who are not eagerly waiting. One possible reason is that your faith wavers. You are unsure, particularly regarding the issue of sin.
It is my hope that this sharing will speak to both groups—those whose faith wavers and those whose faith remains steadfast. Hebrews, especially chapter 10, was written to strengthen the faith of believers.
Let us begin with a word of prayer.
Prayer
Father, we are here this morning not because of convenience or any other reason, but solely to gather together to remember the Lord Jesus.
May we, for the next few moments, be fully tuned in to what You have in store for us in Hebrews 10.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:1–18
(ESV text was read.)
May the Lord bless the public reading of His precious Word.
Background to the Passage
This passage was written primarily because some people were still clinging to the Old Testament Law rather than to the Lord Jesus.
They had a choice between the picture and the reality.
On one hand was something that could never truly give access to God. On the other hand was the real Person who alone could give them access to God.
Yet many could not see—or would not accept—that Jesus Christ is the one-time sacrifice for sin, able to take away sins completely and give us personal access to God.
May I offer a word of caution.
Could there be someone in our midst today whose faith is wavering because you are still unaware of this truth, or perhaps you still prefer to live life your own way?
Are you still burdened by the guilt of your sin, believing that rituals or religious activities, like the people of those days, can somehow cover your sins?
Let us now look more closely at these verses.
Three Sections of Hebrews 10:1–18
The passage naturally divides into three sections.
These opening verses show that the Old Testament sacrificial system was only temporary and inadequate.
It was merely a shadow of the good things to come.
Apart from the work that the Lord Jesus came to accomplish, those sacrifices could never forgive sins.
The theme of these verses can be summarized like this:
The Old Testament sacrificial system could not take away sin.
The writer shows that the ceremonial law could never bring a person into God’s presence.
The word “perfect” in Hebrews carries the idea of having free access to God.
The sacrifices could be performed repeatedly, year after year, but they could never accomplish that. They could never bring a person into God’s presence.
You may ask, if these sacrifices could never work, why did God institute them?
Verse 1 gives the answer.
They were a shadow of the good things to come.
A shadow has form but not substance. It points to something real but is not itself the reality.
The reality is Christ.
Everything in the sacrificial system pointed forward to Jesus and His work on our behalf. He would be the sacrifice. He would be the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
Just as we saw previously that the earthly tabernacle built by Moses was only a shadow of the heavenly tabernacle, so too these sacrifices pointed beyond themselves.
Verse 2 proves the law’s inability to bring people into God’s presence.
If the sacrifices had truly removed sin completely, they would have ceased.
Instead, they continued.
Why?
Verse 3 answers:
“In these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.”
Every sacrifice reminded the worshippers that they remained guilty sinners deserving judgment.
The guilt remained.
On the Day of Atonement, their sins were covered.
But the next day, whenever new sins were committed, another sacrifice was needed.
So they could never feel complete, fulfilled, or perfected.
Instead, they were continually reminded of their sin.
Those reminders should have prepared them for the coming Messiah who alone would settle the sin issue.
Sadly, many became so occupied with the shadow that they missed the reality.
The second section demonstrates how Jesus Christ overcame the insufficiencies of the Old Testament system through perfect obedience to the Father’s will.
The theme of this section is:
Jesus Christ’s sacrifice of Himself could take away sin.
Here the writer quotes Psalm 40:6–8 to show that God provided a suitable substitute—not another animal sacrifice, but a man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
These Old Testament quotations demonstrate that Christ was foretold to come into the world as the perfect substitute to deal with the problem of sin once and for all.
Verse 5 refers to Christ’s incarnation.
A body was prepared for Him.
God equipped His Son with a perfect, sinless, untainted body so that His sacrifice could truly take away our sins.
Then we read:
“In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no pleasure.”
Why then did God institute them?
The original intention was that these offerings would be brought with obedient, repentant hearts—performed with love and devotion.
But over time, people turned them into empty rituals, displaying only outward religion while their hearts remained unchanged.
Verses 7 to 9 speak of Christ’s willingness to do the Father’s will.
That was His focus.
Because of His obedience, He set aside the first covenant in order to establish the second.
Verse 10 is especially important.
Because Christ willingly did God’s will, believers have been sanctified once for all through the offering of His body.
We shall return to this truth shortly.
The final section shows the superiority of Christ’s work.
His one sacrifice is sufficient and final.
Notice the contrast with the priests.
No priest ever sat down inside the tabernacle.
They stood daily because their work was never finished.
Every day they offered the same sacrifices.
Day after day.
Year after year.
Yet those sacrifices could never take away sins.
You can never find final and full forgiveness of sin in the Old Testament sacrificial system.
Then the passage turns to Christ.
Unlike the priests, His work was full, final, and complete.
He offered Himself once for all time.
That single sacrifice completely removed sin.
Because His work was finished, He sat down at the right hand of God.
There is absolutely nothing left for Him to do regarding sin and sanctification.
He now waits until all His enemies are made His footstool.
The Great Assurance — Hebrews 10:14
Verse 14 is especially precious to me.
“For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
This verse tells us the effect of Christ’s one offering.
Believers are perfect before God.
Notice that I said our position.
This is positional sanctification.
The moment someone believes in Christ, that believer is set apart before a holy God.
God sees that believer as perfect.
Not because of our works.
Not because of anything we have done.
The Old Testament sacrifices could never accomplish this.
Believers possess this standing because God has forgiven all our sins through Christ’s sacrifice and has imputed Christ’s perfect righteousness to us.
Beginning in verse 15, the writer describes another blessing of the New Covenant.
God says:
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
There is no longer any need for another offering for sin because every sin has been forgiven.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, these verses teach us this:
Man owed a debt he could not pay, and God paid a debt He did not owe.
Throughout Hebrews we have seen what humanity could not do, what angels could not do, and what sacrifices under the Law could not do.
But God did.
A human body was prepared for His Son to come into this sin-cursed world.
Through living a perfect life, He qualified to die the perfect death—not for Himself, but for everyone else—so that believers might stand perfectly before the Father.
We were made perfect by that one sacrifice.
Lessons Learned
The best the Old Testament sacrifices could do was point forward in faith to the perfect sacrifice—the Lord Jesus.
Those sacrifices themselves had no ability to remove sin.
Today we may not bring animal sacrifices, but people still try many different ways to deal with guilt.
Some try good works, hoping they will outweigh their sins.
Some punish themselves.
They sabotage good things in life because they believe they deserve suffering.
Others try to numb guilt through self-medication—drugs, alcohol, sex, and many other things.
None of these works.
Have you found the complete forgiveness that Jesus offers?
This lesson speaks especially to me because the devil is constantly prowling, seeking to deceive me when I am not careful.
Stop wrestling.
Stop experiencing what I call the despair of perpetual guilt syndrome.
Are you still wrestling with sins you sincerely confessed long ago?
Do you feel there is still an unpaid debt between you and God?
Do you think He is still upset with you?
Does that cause you to avoid Him?
Perhaps your understanding of forgiveness resembles the Old Testament system more than the finished work of Christ.
You believe you are forgiven only up to a certain point and that somehow you are still paying the remaining balance.
But do believers still sin?
Of course we do.
1 John 1:8 says:
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
It even says that claiming we have not sinned makes God a liar.
So what should we do when we sin?
We all know 1 John 1:9:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
When genuine confession occurs, genuine forgiveness and cleansing occur.
God’s forgiveness and cleansing are instant and complete.
Therefore, do not continue holding on to the consciousness of confessed sin.
This is not cheap grace.
It is costly grace.
You have been set free from your past sins.
You have a perfect standing before God.
That is what grace does.
Beloved, cling to Hebrews 10:14.
“For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Believers have been perfected.
We possess a perfect standing before God.
When God looks at us now, He sees us as His sons and daughters, perfected through what His Son accomplished on the cross.
So stop wrestling.
Start resting in God’s full and complete forgiveness.
An Illustration from William MacDonald
Allow me to close by sharing a quotation from our late brother William MacDonald.
I had the privilege of meeting him several times at Fairhaven Bible Chapel in California back in the late 1990s.
I remember one meal especially well.
Without warning, he suddenly asked me to share my testimony.
I was completely unprepared, and I think I made a mess of it!
That is one reason I have never forgotten him.
He wrote:
“Please allow me to illustrate how the distinction between standing and state helped me through a difficult period in my life.
After I was saved, I often heard people quote 2 Corinthians 5:17 when giving their testimonies:
‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.’
They would describe the wonderful transformation that had taken place in their lives.
I would sit there thinking, ‘I wish I could honestly say that all the old things had passed away in my life.’
But it wasn’t so.
I still had some old habits, evil thoughts, displays of anger, and many other grave clothes from my pre-conversion days.
At times I even doubted my salvation.
Then one day I noticed the phrase ‘in Christ,’ and my heart leaped with joy.
I realized the verse was talking about my position, not my practice.
In Christ it was all true.
Condemnation had passed away.
The dominion of Satan had passed away.
The fear of death had passed away.
In Him everything was new.
Forgiveness.
Acceptance.
Justification.
Sanctification.
And countless other blessings.
From that day onward the verse held no terror for me.
I love it.
The knowledge of what I am in Christ makes me want to live for Him as the Lord of my life.”
Conclusion
Let us close in prayer.
Gracious God,
May these truths spoken this morning be a wake-up call to those whose faith wavers because they misunderstand their standing before You.
And may they also encourage those whose faith is steadfast to desire to live even more fully for the Lord because of all that He has done.
In His precious name we pray.
Amen.