Hebrews 10; part 1, Love VS Religion

Hebrews 10 Part 1.  Ritual (Religion) Bad, Love & Obey God, Good.

Isn’t Religion Loving God?   Nope. 

[Heb 10:1 ESV] For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

If it worked, it would have stopped after the first one.  

[Heb 10:2 ESV] Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

[Heb 10:3 ESV] But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

Animal sacrifice cannot remove your sin. 

[Heb 10:4 ESV] For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[Heb 10:5 ESV] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;

[Heb 10:6 ESV] in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

Hold on, If God has not pleasure in animal offerings, why did He command it?

1. What is the greatest of all commands?  Love God. 

2. The offerings were to Make Atonement for sin. 

[Lev 23:28 ESV] And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.  

Atonement:   kaphar: to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch

3. To remind the people of their sin and God’s Justice AND Mercy AND Grace. 

[Lev 23:43 ESV] that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."

[Heb 10:7 ESV] 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.'"

[Heb 10:8 ESV] When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),

[Heb 10:9 ESV] then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

Once For All

[Heb 10:10 ESV] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

[Heb 10:11 ESV] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

[Heb 10:12 ESV] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

[Heb 10:13 ESV] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

Once and for All. 

[Heb 10:14 ESV] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Holy Spirit Fortified 

[Heb 10:15 ESV] And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

[Heb 10:16 ESV] "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"

[Heb 10:17 ESV] then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."

[Heb 10:18 ESV] Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

No more need for religion (man-made ritual) works. 

Holiness 

The condition of the heart. 

[Psa 51:16 NIV] You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

[Psa 51:17 NIV] My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

[Psa 51:18 NIV] May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.

[Psa 51:19 NIV] Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Ritual (religion) without real love is rejected by God. 

[Amo 5:21 ESV] "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

[Amo 5:22 ESV] Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.

[Amo 5:23 ESV] Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

[Amo 5:24 ESV] But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

[Amo 5:25 ESV] "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

[Amo 5:26 ESV] You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god--your images that you made for yourselves,

[Amo 5:27 ESV] and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

God has always been after our affections. 

[Psa 14:2 ESV] The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

[Psa 14:3 ESV] They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

[Psa 14:4 ESV] Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the LORD?

This is what a Living Sacrifice Looks Like.

[Rom 12:1 ESV] I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Great Command 

Great Commission

5 Disciplines 

Quote from Kirk Cameron: 

Cameron: When you make a decision, like, 'I’m not comfortable saying that line or doing that scene.’  Well, that meant that 11 writers had to come up with a new scene. And that meant that the other actors and actresses in that scene had to learn new lines, because I didn’t want to do that scene. It’s very easy for tabloids to grab onto that and say, ‘What’s the best way we can spin this into a front page story? I know! Kirk Cameron goes off the religious deep end!’ When in actuality, it was nothing more than a 17-year-old kid finding something that was worth more than all the celebrity in the world and wanting his life to be a living thank you to the God who had saved him from hell and adopted him into His own family.

See the Power Point Here.