Hebrews 10:1-39

Hebrews 10:1. 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 comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered»

If the sacrifice had really put away sin, surely it would never have needed to be offered again. If one sacrifice had put away the guilt of Israel, there would have been no need to bring another.

Hebrews 10:2. Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

Once cleansed from sin, we are cleansed from sin; the great deed is done once for all,

Hebrews 10:3. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world,

You know who that is, there is but one great «HE» to us,-our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the true High Priest.

Hebrews 10:5. He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

By the work of the Holy Ghost within the Virgin Mary, the blessed body of Christ was «prepared» so that he ought be God and man in one person, and so might bring an offering acceptable unto God.

Hebrews 10:6. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me), to do thy will, God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither had 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.

That he may bring in the real sacrifice of which the others were but types and prefigurations.

Hebrews 10:10. By the which will-

The will which Christ fulfilled in life and in death: «By the which will»

Hebrews 10:10. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once.

Only one sacrifice was required. The key-word here is that little word «once.» Let it not only sound in your ears, but be written in your hearts. Jesus Christ died once, he brought his sacrifice once, he put away our sins once.

Hebrews 10:11. And every priest stinted 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 for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Christ stands no longer to minister as a sacrificing priest, he is sitting down on the right hand of God. That is the posture of one whose work is done, and who is taking his rest: «He sat down on the right hand of God

Hebrews 10:13. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in the minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, these is no more offering for sin.

Sin itself being no longer imputed to any believer in Christ, there is neither the occasion nor the need for the offering of another sacrifice for sin. Christ's one sacrifice has for ever put away the sins of all who believe in him.

Hebrews 10:19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

The Jew could not personally go up to the mercy-seat; he had to go there through his representative, the high priest, and we have Christ as our «high priest over the house of God,» so we come to God through him. The Israelite could not pass through the veil which hid from public gaze the glory of the Shekinah, and Jesus Christ's humanity was a veil which somewhat concealed the glory of his Deity; but the flesh of Christ having been crucified, the veil has been rent, and now we may come right up to the throne of God without trembling; nay, we may come even with holy boldness and familiarity, and speak to God without alarm. Having such a privilege as this, let us not neglect it. It was denied to prophets and kings in the olden time; but now that it is vouchsafed to us, let us avail ourselves of it, and constantly «let us draw near» unto God «with a true heart in full assurance of faith.»

Hebrews 10:23. Let us holdfast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

As he is faithful, let us also be faithful, and hold, as with a death grip, the faith which has been revealed to us and wrought within us by the Holy Spirit; ay, and the profession of that faith too, never being ashamed to own that we are followers of the Nazarene. And let us while we are thus faithful ourselves, endeavor to strengthen others.

Hebrews 10:24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

The Greek is, to stir each other up to a paroxysm of love. There is no fear that we shall ever go too far in our love to God; though it should cast us into a state of blessed excitement, yet would it be healthy for us so to live and so to work.

Hebrews 10:25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;

For Christian fellowship is helpful to us, and we are helpful to others by it. A Christian is not meant to be a solitary being. Sheep are gregarious, and so are the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not be solitary pilgrims along the road to heaven, but join that glorious host of God's elect who march beneath the guidance of our great Master.

Hebrews 10:25. But exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Does not every day bring us nearer to the coming of the Lord? Are there not many signs that these are the last days? Well then, so much the more let us stir each other up to love and to good works.

Hebrews 10:26. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

Here the truth taught is that, if a Christian apostatizes, if he renounces his faith, and goes back to the world, it is impossible to reclaim him. A backslider may be restored, but anyone who should wilfully, after receiving the truth, reject it, has rejected the only Saviour; he has rejected the only regeneration; and, consequently, he is without the pale of the possibilities of restoration. The question is, «Will any true child of God so apostatize?» That question is answered in this very chapter; but the truth here taught is that, if he does, he goes into a state of absolute hopelessness.

Hebrews 10:28. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment,-

Can there be any sorer punishment than to die without mercy? Yes, there is, for there is eternal punishment: «of how much sorer punishment,»

Hebrews 10:29. Suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

With what terrible sentences does Paul hedge up the way of the believer! Leave that way, and there is nothing for you but destruction. Reject your Saviour, give up your hope in him, and there cannot be another name by which you can be saved, or another glorified by which you can be cleansed from sin.

Hebrews 10:32. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions;-

Made a spectacle to be mocked at in the theater of the world;

Hebrews 10:33. And partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.

You must push on; you have already defied the foe, to turn back is certain destruction, for you have no armor for your back.

Hebrews 10:36. For ye have need of patience,-

Or, endurance,

Hebrews 10:36. That, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

To hold on, to continue to do God's will,-this is the task. To start, and to make a spurt now and then, is easy enough; but to keep on, is trying to every spiritual muscle; and only God can enable you to do so.

Hebrews 10:37. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

If there be a drawing back from faith, God can have no pleasure in us; but shall we draw back? That is the question, and here is the answer:

Hebrews 10:39. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition;-

We who have believed in Jesus, we who have sincerely committed ourselves to his care, we who have been born again of the Holy Spirit, we in whom there is the real work of grace which God has pledged to carry on, «we are not of them who draw back unto perdition:»

Hebrews 10:39. But of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

What a blessed truth is this! O Christian, as you see the danger that lies before you if you did prove to be an apostate, bless that sovereign grace which will not suffer you so to do, even as Paul wrote to the Philippians, «Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.»

This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 9:24; and Hebrews 10:1.