Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
1, for the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the commerce
there unto perfect. The apostle tells us that the
law, the law that was given through Moses to the nation of Israel
at Mount Sinai, that the law had a shadow of good things to
come. And we have looked at four of
the good things that the law shadowed forth in the last several
weeks. The first that we looked at was
the law shadowed forth the coming of God to dwell among men. The tabernacle that was part
of that law, very intricate part of the law, the whole worship
system had relationship to the tabernacle. And it was a picture
of a good thing that was to come. And in the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. And then another good thing that
we saw that the law had a shadow of was the spiritual rest, the
Sabbath. Every week there was a day of
rest. And we know that was a picture,
a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world. And
in him, we have rest. He said, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And then third, we looked also
at the liberty from the bondage, the bondage of sin. And we saw
that in the law which spoke about the year of Jubilee, how that
it pronounced liberty. And then last time we looked
at the great high priest, the great high priest that was such
an important part of the law and how that shadowed forth the
coming of our great high priest. If you notice down in verse 21
of this chapter, Hebrews chapter 10, speaking of the great priest,
great high priest, The apostle said, in having a
high priest over the house of God. The house of God, the household
of God. What a blessing tonight to be
a part of the household of God, a member of God's family. You know, in Ephesians 2 and
verse 19, the apostle Paul said, now therefore, You are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and household of God. To be a part of the family of
God, the household of God, what a blessing. And to have a high
priest, each one of us tonight, we have a high priest and we
know that he is always there at the Father's right hand making
intercession for us. But tonight, I want us to look
at another shadow contained in the law of a good thing which
was to come. The law had the shadow of the
atonement, the shadow of the atonement that would perfect
all of God's people. The atonement, there was a shadow
of that atonement that one atonement that would perfect all of God's
people. And I want to divide the message
into these two parts. First, the law had a shadow of
several offerings. It had this shadow, rather, in
several offerings. You know, it says here in our
text tonight that of good things to come and not the very image
of the things can ever with those sacrifices, those sacrifices. Well, the law, if you look in
Leviticus, and we won't turn tonight, but the first five chapters
of Leviticus tell us of five offerings, five offerings in
this order. And the order given through the
law was, first of all, the burn offering, the meat offering,
the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. And
each one of these offerings called for the shedding of blood except
one. There was that one referred to
as the meat, M-E-A-T, the meat offering. Now, you know, when
you read that, I assume that most of us, what comes to our
mind is flesh. When we think of meat, we think
of flesh. But the meat offering was an
offering that was made by fine or with fine flour and oil. And it was a picture of the sinless
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a shadow of His holy,
sinless, perfect life. You know, in Isaiah 42, the prophet,
he prophesied of the Lord's servant, and he said this about him. The
Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He, that
is the servant of the Lord, he will magnify the law and make
it honorable. That meat offering pictured the
perfect, sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. That flower
had to be very fine. There could be no lumps. There
was nothing in Christ that could possibly have been pictured by
anything other than that which was fine. But the other offerings,
the other four offerings, they all entailed the shedding of
blood. And they also had the shadow
of four truths about Christ and his death upon the cross. The
burn offering had the shadow of Christ offering himself wholly
to God. That's what the burn offering
shadowed for, that the Lord Jesus Christ, he would offer himself
wholly, wholly unto God. If you look back just a page
here in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 14, The scripture says, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without spot to God. He offered himself without
spot to God. And that was pictured in the
burnt offering. The offering was burnt. The fat was burnt. The smoke
ascended up, and it was a sweet-smelling savor unto the Lord. He offered
himself wholly unto God. And then the peace offering had
the shadow of Christ reconciling His people unto God. And He did
that by the blood of His cross. That's what we're told in Colossians.
And in Romans 5 and verse 10, For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. The word
reconciliation to us, the teaching of reconciliation just reminds
us we have peace with God. We have peace with Him. His children,
those of us who know Him as our Lord and Savior tonight, we have
peace with God. And that peace that we have was
established upon the foundation of the blood of Jesus Christ. And then the next offering was
the sin offering. Of course, that had the shadow
of Christ as the Lamb of God who would come into this world
and take away our sins. First Corinthians 15 in verse
three says, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Sometimes people may ask or wonder,
why was it necessary for Christ to die? Christ died for our sins. The scripture says, thou shalt
call his name Jesus. This is what Joseph was told
by the angel. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And to save
his people from their sins, he had to take their sins away. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sins of the world. The trespass offering had the
shadow of the continued provision as we go through this world,
the continued provision that he has made for us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Our Lord taught this when he
washed the feet of his disciples, didn't he? He said, you're clean. every whit, but not all of you. There was one there who was not
clean every whit, but the other, the 11 disciples, they were clean
every whit. But yet, when Peter at first
did not want the Lord to wash his feet, the Lord told him,
except I wash your feet, you have no part with me. Not in
me, but with me. And that continued fellowship,
that continued fellowship that we have, there is that provision
made that our sins be cleansed. And that was pictured in the
trespass offering. In the burn offering, we have
Christ giving himself to God as a sweet smelling savor. In
the sin offering, we have Christ giving himself for us. In the
peace offering, we have Christ reconciling us and bringing us
to God. In the trespass offering, we
have Christ in his death making provision for our failures in
the way. And all these things that I've
just mentioned, they were good things that were to come. Good
things that were shadowed forth in the law. And if a person reads
the law, memorizes the law, does his best to obey the law, puts
the law up on the walls, you know, like some people do, But
the problem is the law is spiritual. It's not just keeping that law
outwardly. The law is spiritual. And the
law was given as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, to show
us our need and also to show us the remedy for our need. And he is set forth in the law
through these various shadows, a shadow of good things to come. But the second part of the message,
the law had a shadow of one atoning sacrifice that would make the
comers there unto perfect. You notice in verse one again
here in Hebrews 10, the apostle said, For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. Make the comers thereunto
perfect. But the law had a shadow of one
atoning sacrifice that would make the comers thereunto perfect. Now, the apostle, it seems to
me, by using the words that he does here in this passage of
Scripture, had reference to the Day of Atonement. The Day of
Atonement. Now, I say that for these two
reasons. First of all, because you notice
in that verse that we just read, he said year by year. year by
year. Now the other offerings that
I've just mentioned, like the sin offering, those offerings
were offered every day. Every day. There was two lambs
that were slain in the morning one, in the evening a second
lamb. As the sin offering, every day that took place. And then
there were multiple sacrifices and offerings that people were
to bring. But Paul, he says here that the
sacrifices which they offered year by year. And that makes me think of the
Day of Atonement. Because the Day of Atonement
was just once a year. Just one time every year. And it was always the same day,
the 10th day of the 7th month. So I think that Paul has reference
here to the Day of Atonement because of the use of those words
year by year. Every year, from Aaron on down,
as long as they observed the law, every year, the high priest
on the Day of Atonement, and that's the only day, remember,
when he went into the most holy place. That's the only day that
blood was sprinkled before the mercy seat and on the mercy seat. They did that year by year, year
after year, year after year, every day on the great day of
atonement. But it never had the power to
make the comers there unto perfect. And a second reason I believe
he has reference to the day of atonement is because you notice
in verse four, he speaks of the blood of two animals. Verse 4,
he said, For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins. Now I recognize that what he
says here about the blood of bulls and goats is true of all
the animals that were offered in sacrifices. There never was
any animal whose blood could take away sin. But it is true
that on the day of atonement, the work when the high priest
went into the Holy of Holies, it was with the blood of a bullock
and the blood of a goat. And that's the two animals he
mentions here. Now on the Day of Atonement there
was also a ram that was offered up, but the ram was not offered
up in reference to sin, but it was a burnt offering. It was
a burnt offering. the two animals that were offered
on that day, the priest carrying their blood into the Holy of
Holies, was the blood of a bullock and the blood of a goat. And
that's the only day in the year when blood was sprinkled upon
the mercy seat. You know, the blood of the bullock,
it was carried in there for the sins, to make an atonement for
the sins of the priest. had nothing to do with the nation.
The congregation had to do with the priest. The blood of the
bullock. It was carried in there to make
atonement for the sins of the high priest in his house. Well,
our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, he had no sin of his
own for which he had to make an atonement. He had no sin. He was separate from sinners.
But then the blood of the goat The blood of the goat, remember
there were two goats that were brought and one goat was taken
as the goat to be the sin offering and to make an atonement. The
blood of that goat was taken into the Holy of Holies, and
this is what the scripture says, as it was sprinkled, it was to
make an atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness
of the children of Israel because of the uncleanness of the children
of Israel. The sacrifices of the law could
not make the commerce to those sacrifices perfect. It could
not do it. The blood of those sacrifices
could not make the comers thereunto perfect, but the blood of those
animals could serve as a shadow of that atoning blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That was a good thing which was
to come. By the shedding of His blood,
that one atonement was made that, yes, does make His people perfect. Perfect. Now let's read on here
in Hebrews 10 down to verse 14. For the law having a shadow of
good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the commerce thereunto perfect. For you to stand before God,
and be accepted, you must be made perfect. No one's going
to stand in his presence who is not perfect. The blood of
those sacrifices, offered year after year, could never make
the comers thereunto perfect. For then, Paul says, for then
would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the
worshipers, once purged, should have had no more conscience of
sins. But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year, for it's not
possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice
and offering, thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. in burn offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Even though, think about this,
even though those sacrifices were ordained of God, he's the
one that gave the law, and they were offered according to God's
law, but God never found pleasure in those sacrifices. Not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats could please God, could take
away sin, could make the commerce thereunto perfect. Then said I, we know who this
I is, don't we? We know who this is. This is
our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then said I, lo,
I come in the volume of the book it is written of me. And that
is sometimes explained to mean in the head of the book. Now
the volume of the book, we know this is a prophecy found in the
Psalms also. It could be referring to that,
the volume of the book. It could be referring to that
in the head, that is in the very beginning, just as soon as there
was a center in this world that God declared The seed of the
woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. In the head of the
book, the volume of the book, it is written of me. I come to
do thy will, O God. Above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not neither had his pleasure therein, which are offered by
the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the witch will, that's God's
will, by the witch will we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. I want you to notice in verse
10, we are said to be sanctified, not by a shadow, but by the real. by the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all. Sanctified, by the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ. We see that in verse 10. And
then in verse 14, we see that we are perfected, not by a shadow,
but by what the shadow pictured, the good thing to come. as the
scripture says, by one offering, that is, the offering of Jesus
Christ. Consider that word perfected.
Those comers, the chapter begins telling us that those comers
were never made perfect year after year. It was not possible
that those offerings could make the comers there into perfect.
But now, by one offering, by one offering, He, Christ, He
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, those
who are set apart. We consider that word perfected. I looked at that and I thought
of this verse in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 14. where the wise man said this,
I know that. I like these I knows, don't you?
I love the Apostle Paul's, for we know, we know. Well, Solomon in the book of
Ecclesiastes, he said this, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. I know that,
don't you? Whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever. Whatsoever God purposes, it shall
come to pass. Whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever. Now listen, nothing can be put
to it, nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that man
should fear before Him. that men should reverence God,
that men should worship God, that men should glorify God. I know, Solomon said, that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. God doeth it that men should
fear before Him. For by one offering, when He
said, It is finished. It was finished. It was finished. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Well, consider these four things.
By his one offering of himself, he has perfectly justified all
his people. He has perfectly justified all
His people. Look with me in Acts chapter
13. What a wonderful message preachers have as we go forth
preaching the Word of God. Just like Paul and Barnabas here
in this synagogue. In Acts chapter 13 and verse
38. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, that is the God-man,
Jesus Christ our Lord, through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified
from all things, from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. You see, being justified It's
either perfect or it's not justification. It's not partially justified. Ninety-nine and nine-tenths justified. No. By one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And the justification that we
have through His offering is perfect. Which means that God,
not just a man, But God declares everyone who trusts in the Lord
Jesus Christ justified, just as if we had never sinned. All right, here's the second
thing. By His one offering of Himself, He has perfectly sanctified
His people. Perfectly sanctified His people. I see that in 1 Corinthians chapter
6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse
11, But such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are
sanctified. You are present tense right now. Well, how's that possible? By
his one offering, he had perfected forever them who are sanctified. Those who are sanctified in eternal
election, God the Father set them apart. And sanctified by
God the Son in his death, setting them apart. He gave his life
for the sheep. and sanctified by God the Holy
Spirit, setting them apart and giving them faith to believe
the gospel. Third, by his one offering of
himself, he has perfectly reconciled his people to God. We're not
halfway reconciled. We are reconciled, reconciled. We have peace with God. And by His one offering, He has
perfectly cleansed His people from all their sins. You see that also here in 1 Corinthians
6, where He said, but you are washed. The very first thing
He said to these that they were sinners of the first rate that
He mentions here, just above this. But in spite, of all their sin,
all their filthiness, all their wickedness and evil, but you're
washed. And not just partially washed,
but you're washed clean every whit. And I said four, but I
should have said five. There's a last thing. By his
one offering of himself, he has perfectly prepared a place for
all of his people. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go, I will come again
to receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. And we look forward to that day
when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again and receives us into those
mansions that he has prepared for his people. And everyone
there will be there based upon that one offering, the offering
of Jesus, that one atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, pictured, shadowed
forth in the law. But thank God we have the fulfillment
of those shadows, the reality. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
this message to us this evening. Let's sing a hymn, David.