Sacrificial Atonement: Hebrews 9:15-28

1. Pray & Intro: Good morning. Let’s start this part of our corporate worship by asking God to intervene in our lives, through his Spirit, by the power of his word in the gospel of His Son.
   1. [Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 9:15ff.] This text is tough because we come to it with quite a gap in time and experience. On top of that, and it may seem like this to every generation. But does it not feel to you like our world is swiftly drifting further and further from a true and appropriate acceptance of the authority of God?
   2. So we come to this passage from quite a different perspective than the original readers or listeners. – Particularly, to speak of sacrificial atonement to an audience of Hebrews is neither surprising nor scandalous, but to the modern mind it is both challenging and near to being repulsive and reprehensible (gross and wrong). Both they and we face challenges with it, but perhaps for different reasons.
      1. To them it was difficult to think that the Messiah should be a suffering servant who is put to death, and that he “merely” set forth at that time a spiritual kingdom rather than a political one.
      2. The modern mind faces challenges of accepting the truths prescribed here in different ways. 1. I’m really not all that bad. Sinner is a strong word. If there is a God, surely he of all people gets that. (Blaise Pascal wrote, “There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.”) 2. The sacrificial system, and especially the cross, is indeed a bloody affair. – The cross is a scandalous tripping point, and foolishness to those who are perishing. ((a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, 1 Peter 2:8 quoting Is. 8:14, AND 1 Cor. 1:18) – What’s the problem? We love the idea of forgiven debt, but cringe at the bloody payment on our behalf. We love the idea of a loving God, but cringe at His holiness. But you can’t have one without the other. Our problem isn’t God’s plan, but a paltry understanding of God. Our problem isn’t Christ’s bloody sacrifice, our problem is hard hearts and minds bent on sin.
      3. If we don’t admit the challenge this poses to the modern mind, I don’t think we’re being honest.
   3. But let’s get this one thing straight. The greatest challenge we face in gaining Christ or sharing Christ is not in the Gospel itself (or communicating its truth) but rather the hard hearts of the hearers. – What this means for us is that we must rely fully on God to transform those who love themselves and their sin into those who love God and freely pursue his holiness. – So we fear him and we trust him that his way is the right way and indeed a beautiful way for him to reveal himself in all his glory. (Heb. 1:1-3)
2. READ the text with me to then dig into these parts and place them in context of knowing God as he has revealed himself: [READ vv. 15-28]
   1. In our study of Hebrews, we’ve been following the preacher comparing and contrasting the old covenant and its priests and place of worship and ritual systems with the new covenant put into effect by Christ, who is a better priest who leads us into better worship (in the very presence) of God who has set us free from needing to continue ritual sacrifices in order to temporarily abate God’s wrath against sin.
   2. Through what he has done once for all, a complete atoning sacrifice to pay the debt of sin and enable forgiveness, he makes pure those who are his to enter into the presence of God. [Review of an underlying concept and the straightforward point in the text]
      1. Our greatest need is God. (You say you need clothes to stay warm [and to not shock your neighbors]. A roof/home for protection. Food and water to keep you alive. Air to breathe. And you’d be right. But not so much as you need God to fulfill your eternal purpose for existence—to give you spiritual life and bring you into his holy and glorious presence forever. [Suddenly even our physical, temporal, very real needs pale in comparison. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:18)
      2. God’s greatest gift to us is himself. (See ch. 8 quoting Jer. 31… read vv. 10b-12)
      3. Both our sin nature and sinful activity render God inaccessible, distant. (That was the main thrust of our discussion last week with the tabernacle and levitical system being a constant reminder of God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness.) – [Now for the underlying assumptions of the details addressed in our text today.]
      4. We need purity to be in the presence of God.
      5. We need forgiveness of sin to be pure.
      6. Christ serves as the atoning sacrifice for sin—past, present, and future. [repeat last three slowly…]
   3. So Christ is the mediator of a new covenant. (v. 15)
      1. Mediator – stands in the gap, bridges the distance (btwn God and us) – This Jesus stands between us and God, being like us in our humanity, but unlike us in sinfulness. He pays the debt of death owed for our sin by sacrificing himself.
      2. Covenant – a solemn agreement between two parties, in this case of which both the initiative and onus is all on God. Who is initiating the covenant and who is ensuring it or guaranteeing it (7:22)? Our part is simply to agree to it.
      3. Those who are called is a reminder again of God’s initiative in drawing people to himself, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (Jn. 10:27) It is also a reminder of the exclusivity of the gospel and that not everyone will be saved. This Jesus becomes the cornerstone for one and the rock of offense for another. His sacrifice is foolishness to the perishing but the power of God to those who are being saved.
      4. It is these called ones who will receive the promised eternal inheritance. Again, our world has a poor view of eternity in the presence of our King. [view silly comics]
      5. [Back on task] Christ mediates a new covenant arrangement with God. Those whom he makes his own will receive the promised eternal inheritance. He makes this possible through his death, which redeems them from their sin and the penalty it incurs, making them pure to enter into the presence of God. (PURE – Illust.)
      6. “Since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.”
         1. Redemption is deliverance through payment. In Christ, we are ransomed from slavery to sin and the penalty incurred by the transgressions committed.
         2. “Since a death has occurred…” forms the umbrella over all remaining discussion. Christ’s death. A perfect death, a permanent sacrifice, to pay, to purify, to put away the penalty of sin. That’s why all this discussion of death and blood, blood and death.
      7. In the passage (beg. at v. 16), at least four points are made about death (and the blood that represents that death) in relationship to the two covenants being compared and contrasted:
         1. Both covenants are put into effect by sacrificial death. (The covenants enacted by death. These deaths form new beginnings.)
            1. Here we begin translating the same word, diatheke, as ‘will’ instead of ‘covenant’ because of what is clearly implied in the discussion, so we take this to be a play on the word that can mean both things. (Not an unusual tactic in biblical literature)
            2. Vv. 16-20
         2. Blood purifies because death is sin’s payment, a payment that provides forgiveness. (vv. 21-22)
            1. What is up with sprinkling blood? Sprinkling blood all over stuff just sounds gross. Who came up with the idea of blood having the power to purify? And how does blood clean anything? – Here’s where we have to get beyond the literal to see the point. Blood is symbolic of the sacrificed life. Again, blood here is symbolic of the unblemished life (not stained with sin) that was sacrificed (under the old covenant) to make ritually pure the things that have been formed and otherwise touched by sinful human hands.
            2. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” – Why does sin have to be paid for, and why is death the payment? Why doesn’t God just forgive? – Forgiveness of a debt doesn't mean nobody paid it. If anything, when I forgive a debt, it means I paid it myself. (ILLUST.)
            3. The holiness of God is no triviality. It is the essence of who he is and essential to our understanding of the Gospel. Without a holy God we have no gospel because we have no God. – “God and I are copacetic” (we’re ok, everything’s in order). Really? That just isn’t possible. – So the payment (which we desperately need), is Christ’s righteous life to take our sin’s penalty, to grant us spiritual life, to give us his righteousness – that is what makes our forgiven debt possible. Thus it said in v. 15 he redeems, ransoms, ‘delivers us out by payment’ from our transgressions.
         3. [The next turn in the author’s argument is to say that] Old covenant sacrifices were a holding place for the real deal. They were copies that pointed forward to Christ. (That is also how Christ is the fulfillment of all these former “shadows” and “copies.” (vv. 23-24)
            1. Sacrificial blood temporarily purified the place [necessary due to the presence of God] and temporarily (and outwardly) purified the people…
            2. Not completely and permanently forgiven until Christ (Even OT believers, their faith was in God’s goodness to accomplish His work for complete forgiveness… but that would require a better payment – better place, better sacrifice – for all of his followers, for all their sin, for all time)
         4. Christ’s sacrifice was himself, shedding his own blood, once for all. – vv. 25-28 (Hebrews 10 will reinforce the finality of Christ’s atoning sacrifice… but let me use this section as the springboard of application for the whole discussion today.
            1. Can someone ultimately pay his or her own sin penalty? (v. 27)
            2. Have you responded to God’s call? – Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. (Acts 16:31)
            3. Do you have to repeatedly ask him to save you? (to cleanse you and make you his own? Vv. 25-26)
            4. What gives you confident assurance? (10:19-23)
            5. Shouldn’t knowing that Christ bore our sins put away the penalty for our sin (v. 28a, 26b, 15c) properly motivate us to pursue his holiness? (that he bore your sins!) - (Rom. 6:1-4)
            6. (As we prepare for the Lord’s Table together this morning…) What sacrifice do we then bring to God as we eagerly await Christ’s return? (Rom. 12:1)
         5. Ask the elders and deacons to come to distribute communion. [Review]

6. Communion

Sacrificial Atonement – Hebrews 9:15-28

Blood for Payment and Blood for Purity? Sacrificial Death?

(Who believes that stuff anymore?)

Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (Heb. 9:15, ESV)

Both covenants are put into effect by sacrificial death. (16-20)

Blood purifies because death is sin’s payment, a payment that provides forgiveness. (21-22)

• Purity

• Payment

Old covenant sacrifices were copies that pointed forward to the true and effective sacrifice. (23-24)

Christ’s sacrifice was himself, shedding his own blood, once for all. (25-28)

• Can someone ultimately pay his or her own sin penalty? (v. 27)
• Have you responded to God’s call? (Acts 16:31)
• Do you have to repeatedly ask him to save you? (vv. 25-26) What gives you confident assurance? (Heb. 10:19-23)
• Shouldn’t knowing that Christ put away the penalty for our sin (28a, 26b, 15c) properly motivate us to pursue his holiness? (Rom. 6:1-4)
• What sacrifice do we bring to God as we eagerly await Christ’s return? (Rom. 12:1)