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The Perfect Sacrifice (Hebrews 10:1-18)
I. Foreshadowed In The Ceremonies (v.1-4)
II. Fulfilled By Christ (v.5-14)
III. Fixed Through The Covenant (v.15-18)
Sermon Highlight (Hebrews 10:1-18):
"Christ’s sacrifice was perfect—once for all. Unlike the old sacrifices that could never take away sins (Hebrews 10:4), Jesus offered Himself as the final, complete payment for sin. When He cried, 'It is finished,' He meant it—no more offerings, no supplements, no second chances. Either we trust wholly in His work, or we have no hope at all. To step away from His sacrifice is to step away from salvation itself. But for those who believe, God makes an unshakable promise: 'Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more' (Hebrews 10:17). Stop striving; start resting. His blood is enough."
(149 words)
Why it matters:
- Cuts through religion to the heart of the gospel.
- Exposes the danger of adding to Christ’s work.
- Offers assurance to weary sinners.
Sermon Context & Hook:
Title: "The Perfect Sacrifice: Why Jesus’ Death Is Enough"
Text: Hebrews 10:1–18
Have you ever felt pressured to prove your worth—to God, to others, or even to yourself? A man once scoffed at Christians for relying on Jesus as a "crutch." "Why can’t you just be good enough on your own?" he demanded. But the Bible reveals a staggering truth: no amount of effort, ritual, or sacrifice can erase our guilt.
In this powerful sermon, we dive into Hebrews 10 to unpack why:
- 🔥 Animal sacrifices failed—they were only a shadow of what was coming.
- ✝️ Jesus’ death was once-for-all—unlike priests who stood daily, He sat down (because the work was finished!).
- 💔 To reject His sacrifice is to reject hope—there’s no Plan B for salvation.
With striking clarity, the preacher exposes modern attempts to "help" Jesus save us—whether through superstition, moralism, or compromise. But the cross stands alone: "It is finished."
Ready to grasp the freedom of a perfect sacrifice? Don’t skim the highlights—read the full sermon to:
1️⃣ See Christ’s death with fresh awe (He bore your name on the cross).
2️⃣ Spot subtle lies that downplay His work (even in churches!).
3️⃣ Live confidently, knowing God remembers your sins no more.
This isn’t just theology—it’s the difference between religion and redemption.
👉 Read on—your soul will thank you.
Table of Contents: "The Perfect Sacrifice" (Hebrews 10:1–18)
1. Introduction
- 1.1 The Challenge to Christian Faith (Criticism of Dependence on Christ)
- 1.2 Historical Heresies Undermining Christ’s Sacrifice (Judaizers, Gnostics, Arians, Reformed Errors)
2. The Shadow vs. The Substance
- 2.1 Old Testament Sacrifices as a Foreshadowing (Hebrews 10:1)
- 2.2 The Limitation of Animal Sacrifices (Hebrews 10:2–4)
- Cannot Remove Sin
- Annual Reminder of Sin
3. The Perfect Sacrifice Fulfilled in Christ
- 3.1 Christ’s Incarnation and Obedience (Hebrews 10:5–7; Psalm 40:6–8)
- 3.2 The Once-for-All Offering (Hebrews 10:10–12)
- Sanctification Through His Body
- Contrast with Repeated Priestly Sacrifices
- 3.3 The Finality of Christ’s Work (Hebrews 10:14)
- "Perfected Forever" Those Who Are Sanctified
4. The New Covenant Promise
- 4.1 God’s Eternal Covenant (Hebrews 10:15–17; Jeremiah 31:33–34)
- Law Written on Hearts
- Sins Remembered No More
- 4.2 Assurance from the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:15)
5. Warning Against Apostasy
- 5.1 No Other Sacrifice Remains (Hebrews 10:18)
- 5.2 Historical Context: Hebrew Believers Under Persecution (Nero’s Reign, AD 64)
- 5.3 Application for Modern Christians (Prioritising Christ Over Worldly Pressures)
6. Personal Reflection on Christ’s Sacrifice
- 6.1 The Cost of the Cross (Physical Suffering, Agony, and Victory)
- 6.2 Rejecting Superstitious Substitutes (Philippine Traditions vs. Biblical Truth)
- 6.3 The Danger of Taking Grace for Granted
7. Conclusion & Call to Faithfulness
- 7.1 Trusting in Christ’s Finished Work ("It Is Finished")
- 7.2 Living as Sacrifices (Romans 12:1)
- 7.3 Proclaiming the Gospel to Others
8. Closing Prayer
- Emphasis on Finality: Highlights the exclusivity of Christ’s sacrifice ("No more offering for sin").
[37:18 - 1:36:37] Video timestamp
Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Thank God for this privilege coming before thee, before God, before you, to share this message from Hebrews chapter 10, verses 1 to 18: The Perfect Sacrifice.
I was approached by a man who told me that we as Christians are very weak people. "We are dependent on one man called Jesus Christ," he said. "Why can’t you try yourself to do what is good, what is righteous, a blessing to others? Why do you always depend on the work of Jesus Christ? You are using a crutch—Jesus is your crutch. You are a weak person."
Indeed, there are many in the history of the church—people who try to diminish, undermine, and undervalue the perfect sacrifice of Christ. There were heretical teachings even in biblical times. There were Judaizers in the time of the Apostle Paul who said that it is not enough for us to just believe in what He has done for us. It is not enough for us to just trust what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. "We need to continue doing the sacrifices," they said. "We need to continue to do what Moses has commanded—circumcision, giving all the sacrifices into the temple, and doing all the commands given in the Old Testament."
Even in the later part of the life of the Apostle John, there were people who tried to undermine the great sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There were those Gnostics who claimed, "Oh, Jesus did not really come as God. He was just a phantom. He was just somehow an imagination of man. The one who was crucified was not the Christ—He left the man when He died on the cross."
There were also those who tried to undermine the sufficiency of the death of Christ. They said that He is not fully God—He’s just a man, He is 50% God. These Arians wanted to promote that we need to do something in order to further or to complete the work of Jesus Christ because He did not fulfil and do all things required for us to be saved.
Even after the Reformation, there were so-called Reformed Calvinistic theologians who tried to undermine the soteriology—the salvific work—of our Lord and Saviour. They said, "Well, Jesus Christ came to die at the cross just to demonstrate God’s anger and His wrath upon sinners so that man will be moved to receive Him." They thought that man is not totally depraved, and we must have—or we have—the ability in ourselves to believe and receive and choose the Lord Jesus Christ. So it was not to die for our sins—it was just a demonstration of God’s wrath upon sinners.
These are things that come throughout the history of the church to put down the value, the significance, of the Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. And here we have in Hebrews chapter 10 a clear teaching—the doctrine that Paul (as I believe he is the writer of the book of Hebrews) gave an outline here—that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ was perfect, is perfect, and will always be perfect, and will always be the only sacrifice that we can trust. It is the only sacrifice where we can rely on.
And he says it is a sacrifice that was foreshadowed in the law. When God saw that man cannot fulfil or cannot do anything for his salvation, when God saw that man cannot do anything for his redemption, God in His laws ordained that there is a Messiah—a seed of a woman—that will come. And in this, He wants the people to learn that in the coming of this Messiah, there is a sacrifice to be done. He will offer Himself to die, and He will shed His blood on the cross (though it was not mentioned that it was a cross, but He will shed His blood).
And when you look forward to the work of this Messiah, you have to learn that this must be done, and this must be illustrated, demonstrated, in the way that God says you must do in the ceremonial laws that I have commanded you. And in these ceremonial laws, He wanted them to believe and to have faith in what the Messiah would do.
In fact, that was what he said—or that is what he said—in 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 comers thereunto perfect."
He now tries to show that these ceremonial sacrifices were just a shadow—and we understand what a shadow is. It is a dark or grey part when there is a casting of light towards the thing or the matter, and it represents the presence of the real thing, or the image—the very image—of the thing that is given here. It is a foreshadowing, or trying to look forward. You have to apply and do these ceremonies or ceremonial laws so that you will understand what the Messiah would do. You have to offer animal sacrifices.
In fact, it was ordained even before Moses. We understand how God told Adam and Eve—and we know that this was told to them because Abel and Cain did those sacrifices. So we see that in this foreshadowing, the writer of Hebrews tells the people that this is a sign or a pointer to the real thing. This shadow points to something that is the very image of that thing, but it is not the real thing.
And he says this pointer would tell us—would tell the worshippers—that they have to await and put their faith on that coming sacrifice. But that sacrifice itself is not the work that would cleanse you, the work that would deliver you out of your sins. "For then would they not have ceased to be offered? If indeed those sacrifices are the perfect or the fulfilment of the cleansing and forgiveness of sins of those who offer, then they would not have done it again and again."
And verse 2 says:
"For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins."
If the moment he brings a lamb, the moment he brings a goat, the moment he brings an ox to offer, and it is that fulfilment—or cleansing, total forgiveness of your sins—then you don’t have to do it again. When the writer says it is done year by year, because it is not the sacrifice that would cleanse you, it is these sacrifices that will point you to the very sacrifice that God has ordained—and that is through the Messiah. It is like a pointer. It is like a sign.
A few days back, we went to Phillip Island for the camp, and there were signs that show from here there is about 80 or 100 kilometres. We don’t stop at that sign. We don’t stay there because it says there is still a distance to travel. We have to move, and we have to reach that final destination. That sign does not say that it is the place where we have our camp. It is not Phillip Island itself.
And so the writer here describes the ceremonial laws that were commanded in the past were not in themselves the cleansing, the forgiveness of your sins. It is looking forward to what the Lord has ordained for you to be done. And why should there be a sacrifice? Why should there be a Messiah who will come?
But we all know—and I believe all of us, or most of us, have known—that we need someone to represent us, someone to substitute us. We have sinned. Not only that we have sinned, we are sinners even when we were conceived in the womb of our mothers. The first parents have sinned, and through their sin, we have also our original sin. And through that original sin, we who are sinful people in nature—sinners—come out or are delivered into this world by our parents, and we sin continually, daily.
So we need somebody—we need someone—to atone and substitute us because we cannot do it by ourselves. No matter how much we try to do good things in order to be forgiven, to be pleasing before God, we know that we cannot do it. "There is none righteous, no, not one." The Bible says no one can expiate, or no one can propitiate, or no one can make himself righteous before God.
And God has promised, "I will send the Messiah. I will send the seed of the woman to be the final sacrifice." He is the sacrifice—the perfect sacrifice. So those who have gone through the sacrifices in the Old Testament—God foretold, "You have to do this so that you will have faith on the coming Messiah, and you have to do this in order to look forward to His coming."
And in verse 3, it says:
"But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year."
Every time they confess, every time they offer, every time they come to the temple, they’re reminded of their sins. But every time they come, they must look over and remember that there is a final offering of this sacrifice for the cleansing and forgiveness of our sins.
"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." (v. 4)
If you offer sacrifices—if you offer bulls or oxen or goats or lambs—that offering itself will not cleanse you. That offering itself will not let you be cleansed and be righteous. That offering itself will not grant you forgiveness of your sins. That just shows how there must be a final offering that will be done. You have to believe in the promise of God. You have to believe in the covenant of God. You have to believe what God has told your forefathers. And you continue on doing this, looking forward to the coming of Christ.
So the author says, "Yes, it was foreshadowed, but it was fulfilled in Christ." We thank God that today we are not in the age of foreshadowing in the Lord. We are not in the time when we look forward to His coming. We are not in the time that we are hoping that He will come to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. We look back—He has done it. He finished it. He has gone through the life on earth in order to give Himself as a man who fulfilled all the demands of the law that was given by the Father.
And not only the active fulfilment of the law of God, but He also passively went to the cross, obeyed what God has said, so that He will receive the punishment of the sins of the world. John the Baptist says, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." So all the foreshadowing in the law, all that was described in the book of Leviticus—the giving of the offering of sacrifices, offering of burnt offerings, offering of those lambs, goats, bulls—were done in the past.
And today, we don’t do it here. And nobody is bringing a lamb or a goat here to be sacrificed on the altar. We look back on what was done on the cross of Calvary. So that was fulfilled by Christ. And in verses 5 to 14, the writer describes this fulfilment.
His fulfilment was done, in the first place, when God the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in the incarnation. We talk of incarnation—God became flesh. He dwelt among us. He needed to be one with us. He needed to be man Himself. Although He remains to be God 100%, He is also man 100%. That we must understand from the Scripture. He is God-man. He is not 50% man and 50% God. He is 100% God. He is 100% man. He was incarnated.
And so here in verse 5, it says:
"Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me."
He came as a man. He was not a phantom. He was not an imagination. He came here on this world—God-man. He dwelt among us. He became flesh so that He fulfilled everything that we cannot do. And that is the active obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ—that everything that was required by God the Father for us, which we cannot do.
Whatever works we are required to do—the laws of God, the commandments of God—we cannot do all this. We cannot worship truly God. Even though how much we desire to worship the Lord, we are distracted in many ways. We come to the worship service—sometimes we miss many things in the sermon or whatever things we do here because sometimes our minds wander. There may be some concerns. There may be some kind of business. There may be some kind of errands that we have to do. We forget something. We have to go after the service and be there on time. We are distracted.
We want to worship fully, but we cannot do it. We don’t want to worship idols, and yet in our daily lives, the world is there to disrupt and try to catch our attention. And we love the things and the pleasures of the world, and we forget about God.
We don’t want to say bad things. We don’t want to blaspheme the name of God. But somehow in our minds and in our thoughts, we do and we say things that are against God. We forget who He is. We question or murmur at His dealings with us.
We want to worship God always during the Lord’s Day. But sometimes our office, our workplace, there are so many things that pull us away from coming to worship the Lord in the Lord’s name. Many Christians today just take the Lord’s Day as a few hours—one and a half hour—that’s all. If the preacher will extend a few minutes, you will complain. You will look at your watches and show to the preacher, "It’s already time." The Lord’s Day is brought into a Lord’s hour.
The children today—we teach them how to honour their parents, but we know how they are told and trained in the schools that you cannot allow your parents to discipline you. Do something to fulfil what the Bible has said on chastening and disciplining children.
We might not have killed a person, but we know in our minds, in our hearts, there are people that we are angry at, we hate. We think we are not committing adultery, and yet we know in our eyes and in our minds, we see other things—other women, wives of other men—that we lust after.
We know we are not stealing—not stealing in big things—but in our heart, as we desire that these things are ours, how we look forward that "I can have that. My neighbours have this—I should have that. I should have all this."
We don’t want to lie, and yet we are telling and even accusing others also. And in all these things, we cover the things of this world. We desire to do what is right, but we cannot do it.
One must come to fulfil all this perfectly and have only a perfect fulfilment of the commands of God—the demands of the Father. Through Him, He also must pay the penalty for our sins because we have done the sins, all the things that we have done or have made before God—all the transgressions, all the iniquities. So it’s not just fulfilling the demands, but also the pain of the punishment.
He says in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, "Thou hadst no pleasure." It is not that God was not pleased with them in coming when they come to offer sacrifices. But here the Bible tells us that it is not through this that we can be forgiven. It is not through this that we can be atoned or be reconciled to God.
Then said He, "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God." It has been prophesied. It has been ordained. It has been written in the past. And this is our trust—that truly God’s Word is preserved. Because without God’s preservation of His Word, how can this be fulfilled if it has changed throughout the ages? There is no fulfilment "in the volume of the book." But it is written.
We thank God that indeed our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came to do the will of God. This quotation here is taken from Psalm 40:6–8. The writer wrote this in order to prove to the recipients of this letter that it was said and told by the signs in the past. And you have to remember that this was done. This was made. This was declared.
And he continued to describe that this is the fulfilment of what has been prophesied above when He said, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (which are offered by the law)." It is not through these sacrifices.
So he says here and continues to describe the Messiah who comes—and in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ—then said He, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." He taketh away the first that He may establish the second.
The word "taketh away" is to put to death, to stop, to fully cause it to cease. No more will you do it again. No more will you look forward to come and offer bulls and oxen and lambs or goats. It has been put to death.
When we arrived in Phillip Island, there was no sign "50 km" or "80 km" because we were there. You don’t need a sign that you have to go further. It is not—there is no sign that you have to go, turn right or left. You are there in the island.
And the writer says here is the final sacrifice. No more looking forward because we are here. No more looking to the coming because He came.
In verse 10, he says:
"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Through this, we are sanctified. Let me just bring you back to Romans chapter 5 in order for us to fully understand what this "taking away the first that He may establish the second" means.
Let me just read to you Romans chapter 5—and this is the covenant of God in Christ. And verse 12 says:
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world" (this is Adam), "and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
"For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come."
Take note of this in verse 15:
"But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many."
"And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification."
Unto justification—we are justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are made righteous before God. We are represented by Him. He made us sanctified.
Back to chapter 10 of Hebrews, verse 10:
"By the which will we are sanctified"—this is the positional sanctification of the believer by which, when he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is now seen as a saint, is now seen as one who is to be glorified, is now seen as a child of God.
He didn’t have to look forward for another sacrifice. He says here, "Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." It was through His death on the cross. There is no other way by which a person can be saved. It is only through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And we understand this today as we remember His death on the cross. This is the good thing in Good Friday. We know that He indeed offered Himself to die on the cross. And that sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all—His perfect sacrifice—is credited to us by which, when we truly believe and trust in Him, we are made righteous before His presence.
In the past, the priests stood daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices. But those things they cannot take away sins. The bringing of animals cannot take away sins because that was just a foreshadow, and that was done by the priests.
But this man—the Lord Jesus Christ, your Lord and Saviour, my Lord and Saviour—after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.
Now take note of this in verse 12. He says:
"But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God."
Forever. This means that the sins in the past—starting from Adam and Eve—to the sins of this generation who are in this world today, and even to the last generation that will come—all of these sins, past, present, and future, are all paid by the Lord Jesus Christ.
He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever. We don’t look forward in the years to come another lamb who will be crucified. Another Christ that will be crucified. Another prophet that will represent man. Another man who will say, "I am here. I am sent by God to sacrifice in order for you to be forgiven." There is just one sacrifice, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other.
You can find it in prophets and any gods of other religions. It is only through the Lord Jesus Christ. And after that, He was received, pleasing before the Father—because after His death on the cross, He was taken down, buried, and then He rose again after the third day. And this resurrection led to the ascension, and that He is now sitting at the right hand of God—accepted before God. It was pleasing to God. It was God’s victorious work to redeem His people.
God says, "You sit down at My right hand. This is what you deserve. You are glorified." Take note—we don’t think of a picture of an old man, and the side there is Jesus, and the other side is the so-called Holy Spirit as a dove. It is giving Him the authority. Sitting down on the right hand of God is giving Him full authority. He’s the Lord of lords, the King of kings, and He is here demonstrated as one who has done that perfect work for the redemption of mankind.
There was no other Saviour in the past, no other Saviour in the future. It is only through Jesus Christ. That’s why the writer here explains:
"From henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool."
And this is the prophecy of His coming. He soon will come, and He will reign, and He will be the King on this earth for a thousand years. He will come to rule this world.
"For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (v. 14)
You and me—we have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe and receive and have fully acknowledged that it is only His work on Calvary that saved us. We are already seen as people who are glorified, positionally sanctified before God. You have a place in heaven. You have a seat that no one can take. You have a place that no one can take over. There is that place for you because you, in His eyes and in His record, is already perfectly sanctified, justified before Him—perfected because of what He has done.
And how can we be assured of this? How do we know that this is really sure? How do we know that this is really the case?
The writer continues on—it is not just fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been fixed even from the beginning. Who are those who will come to Him? Fixed by His covenant. It was witnessed by the Holy Ghost.
The writer says:
"Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that He had said before..."
It was said before—not that after the death of Christ, but even before. And this was again a quotation of a verse in the Old Testament.
"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 their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." (vv. 15–17)
This is taken from Jeremiah—by the way, Jeremiah 31. It says here, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days."
Jeremiah lived 500 to 600 years before the birth of Christ. He was already prophesied in those days that there will come a Messiah. And when the Messiah will come, not only that He will offer sacrifice for us, He will also prepare the path of those who will believe. He prepares the path of those who will come.
You are here not because it is your will and choice to listen to this message. You are not here because you just want to be here. You are not here because you have a free time or you have no other place to go this evening. You are not here because somebody forced you to come. You are not here because somebody pulled you and promised you something to eat later in the supper.
It’s not because of those promises. You are here because God ordains that you will be here. It is God who ordains that you will hear this message. It is God that ordains that you will be reminded of His Word.
"I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
God will change our hearts. When we recognise, acknowledge, believe, trust, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ—His work on Calvary—He Himself has promised that He will change our lives. Instead of having the burden of the dos and don’ts that they think of the law, we have the love to do it. We have the love to fulfil it. We have the love to obey it. We have the love to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
"I will put My laws in their hearts, and in their minds will I write them."
He will cause us to remind always—to be reminded always—of what is done.
"And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
What a sweet promise! "Sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
Today, we examine our lives. Even for us who are Christians, we know how we fail the Lord. Even though we are here preaching in the pulpit—ministers of God’s Word—we know that we are more sinners than you are. We know how we appeal to God. But how sweet a promise it is that if we trust truly and believe in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary—as we remember today—He says here, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
I believe you are in the book of Micah these days in your studies. But here we have in this book—the last part of this prophecy, the minor prophecy—that of the promise of God. And he says here in chapter 7, verses 18 and 19:
"Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
What a wonderful promise from God! Sometimes we are convicted of our sins, and we fail, and we ask the Lord, "Lord, am I truly saved? Am I truly Yours? Am I truly going to heaven?"
We have these promises from God. But truly, if we have believed in the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are no more to remember—and even to think—this in God Himself.
"He will subdue our iniquities, and He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
Paul says:
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:1)
Oh, how wonderful this is!
And he continues to this end in this passage that we consider. He says:
"Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." (v. 18)
Now why did the writer continues to remind them? "No more offering for sin." No more other ways. No more other person. No more other prophet. No more other means by which you can be forgiven. There is no more offering for sin. It is only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we have to understand that this epistle to the Hebrews was written by the Apostle Paul (I believe, and many of the conservative scholars believe also that it is Paul). The writer was in the time where they were undergoing persecution. It is believed that it was in the time of the Emperor Nero, because this was about 67–68 AD—prior to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
The temple was still standing, and many of the Hebrews (in fact, it was originally titled "To the Hebrews") were looking backward, planning to go back into their Judaistic faith. They were supposed to have believed in Christ already. They were supposed to be Christians—Jewish Christians, as we call today, Messianic Jews. They supposed to have trusted in Christ. They supposed to have followed Him.
But when there was a time where there was persecution of Christianity—Christians were labelled as those who burned the city of Rome in 64 AD—they thought that, "Oh, this is a difficult state. We’d rather have to go back into our Judaistic faith rather than continue on to be identified as Christians and suffer this great persecution."
And so they thought, "It’s the same. We believe in Jesus Christ. He was foretold in the Old Testament. Therefore, we can also go back—step back—and worship God in the way we worshipped Him before. Worship God in the way by which we can offer sacrifices again—back into bringing the oxen and lambs and goats. Why go through this heavy suffering, difficult times? We can just return back into the ways of the past."
It was easy. The Jews were exempted. Only the Christians were persecuted. And so the writer of this epistle—if you return back, step back into that point—you are not only leaving Christianity, you are denying Christ, and you are also rejecting your own Old Testament.
It is like going into Phillip Island, and then after reaching there, it’s so cold—you have to go come back to that point where it says "80 kilometres" and you stay there. It’s not just you are leaving Phillip Island. You are also denying that sign that says "80 kilometres from here is Phillip Island."
So it’s not just denying the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s denying the prophecy in the Old Testament that He will come—and He came. So they were challenged: "If you fall away, if you leave the faith, if you recount and deny the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord because you don’t want to suffer, you don’t want to have this persecution—you are denying the faith, and you are denying the Old Testament prophecies. You are denying the covenant of God. You are denying everything."
And this is also important for us to understand as believers, as Christians. Because there are many Christians today who rather would fall away or step back in times where there are some economic problems, situations where we are so tied up—try to step back from our zeal and our service unto the Lord.
When there are things that happen in our family, we try to step back and prioritise those things. When there are problems in our companies, in our workplace, we’d rather have to go into these things rather than give our service unto the Lord. We step back. We prioritise. We think that this is more important than Christ.
And if you fall away, the writer says, "There is no more sacrifice." You have denied your faith. You have rejected. You have stepped back. You have returned back to the world. And you can never have anyone to pull you out from that depravity. You are a person who apostatised, and the progression of such will continue on if you don’t trust in the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you don’t repent—if we don’t go back, if we don’t repent, if you don’t confess that we have done evil before Christ—I pray that we will remember truly this perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How He has suffered so much. How He was scourged. How He was beaten. How He felt that agony in the garden of Gethsemane. How He carried that heavy cross. How He was nailed on the cross—that excruciating pain where He suffered not only because of us today, but even the sins of the past and even the sins of the future—that He willingly did in order to save us.
And if we slowly have distanced ourselves from the Lord, please don’t go on and on and be away from Christ. There is no other way that you can be saved. There is no more other offerings. Don’t hope for any other person to come and save you.
Today is a day by which we continue on to follow the Lord. There are times that we stumble. We fall. We fail. We miss many things from God. But we are to continue and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t have to fall away and go back into the world. There is no other sacrifice.
If you turn back from Christ, that means you are turning away from the path to heaven, and you are now going into your quest to hell and destruction. The only way by which a person can be saved and truly be able to enter into the kingdom of God is through the perfect sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ has done.
He has done it. He has finished it.
A preacher went to a village, and he had a gospel rally. He wanted to invite as many farmers as he can. He went to house to house to invite them. There were many who agreed, and they came. But there was one farmer who said, "Oh, I’m busy today. I have to plow the fields. I have to plant tomorrow. I have to do these things and do that."
The preacher continued on to tell him, "This is more important than your field. This is more important than your agriculture." But he said, "No, I have to do this."
And so that afternoon—on that night, the preacher—on that afternoon, the preacher did share the gospel. Many came, but this farmer went to the field. But it rained heavily. He wasn’t able to do what he desired to do. And so he realised that he missed something. "I should have gone to that meeting."
He ran to the meeting place. It was already almost night, and everyone already left the place—but the preacher was still there. And so when he saw the preacher, he asked the preacher, "Please tell me. I know I missed the message. I know I missed the gospel meeting—but I want to know, how can I be saved?"
The preacher told him, "It is finished. It is finished."
He said, "No, I’m still here. You can tell me even in few messages, in few sentences, in few words—tell me, how can I be saved? What must I do to be saved?"
The preacher says, "It is finished. It is finished."
"Yes, it is. It’s time to go."
What we need to believe is truly—what we need to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is it. It’s faith in full. He has done it. He has made it. He accomplished it for us. He has fulfilled it.
And how we should thank the Lord for doing it for us. Who are we that we are worthy of sacrifice? Who are we who will say we are worthy of such agony in the cross?
"It is finished."
And on that day when He did it on the cross of Calvary, He has in His mind your name and my name. He died because of you and because of me. He died because of the sins of the people. And He died—He paid in full. There is no more other offering. He did it all.
I pray that we will remember this. We will meditate upon this. We will consider this work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we were young—you know, in the Philippines, there are so many superstitious things that we do. And during Good Friday, we were told by our parents to remove or to follow the procession—going from one cross to an outstation to another, to follow the stations of the cross. And they said, "You have to go barefooted. You don’t have to wear your slippers or your shoes."
In our place, it’s all asphalt—you know, that kind of road where it is so hot—from around 30°C, it will melt. It is very hot. It’s painful. But our parents would always tell us, "You have to bear because it’s a way by which you sacrifice so that you can take away some of your sins—that they will be forgiven."
We have to sacrifice. It was hard. It is difficult. But we thought that by sacrificing—by doing what the Lord Jesus Christ has done—we can be forgiven at least of some few sins that we have done. And we did it. It was painful.
Later, when I became—when the Lord graciously saved me—we went into a church. This is fundamental, conservative. But this church thought also, "Well, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ has already saved us. He already rose from the dead. He is victorious. We need not to reflect upon Good Friday."
We have come together and remember what He has done on the cross. "He is already victorious. Hallelujah! Christ is already risen!" And so we have camps on Good Friday—on Maundy Thursday, as we call it—and Good Friday.
And Roman Catholics—we were not told to eat meat during the Passion Week. That’s part of the sacrifice. But in this evangelical church—so-called—"Oh, we even have the roasted fish like that there in the corner"—to show off that, "Oh, we don’t have to follow all this sacrifice. We don’t have to suffer. We don’t have to do all this because Christ did all these things to us. We are already saved. He is alive."
Thank God for bringing us into this Bible-believing church. Thank God for the B-P (Bible-Presbyterian) movement. And not only that we believe that there is resurrection—we not only believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is victorious and He conquered death—we have also to recall and remember how He had died for us.
And this is important. Good Friday is important for us to remember—not for us to sacrifice over anything. He has done it all. "It is finished." But to remember how great a sacrifice He has done for us.
For many Christians today take for granted what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on the cross. They just remember that He is resurrected. "He’s alive. He has forgiven us." But we forget to think and to meditate upon the great pain and excruciating pain—that agony—that He had in His prison, caused just because of you and me.
I pray that we remember this perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ—that truly, we can make ourselves remember also the great work that He has done on Calvary. Not only that He died for us—we understand He did resurrect, and we are looking forward even to His coming again.
And I pray the Lord will grant us the wisdom to remember these things in our Christian lives. We need to reflect upon the good work of the Lord Jesus on Good Friday—and look forward to remembering also His resurrection—looking forward to His coming again as He promised for all those who believe in Him.
So let us trust in the Lord. As Christians, we have to continue trusting Him. As Christians, we have to look forward to His coming again. We should not deny Him our zeal and our worship and our service. We should continue on to offer our lives as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable unto God.
And let us continue on telling others of the Lord’s perfect sacrifice in the cross of Calvary that saved us—that erased and removed and cleansed us from all our sins.
May the Lord bless us. The Lord help us.
Let us pray.
Our gracious Father in heaven, we thank Thee for how Thou hast ordained everything according to Thy perfect plan. We thank Thee for Thy good plan that Thou hast done—even the promise of the coming of Thy Son. Now Thou hast fulfilled it in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank Thee that Thou art our God who hast promised also that He is Thou seated at the right hand. Thou hast promised that He will come again, and He shall bring us up again. And while we await for that time, help us, O Lord, to remember what He has done for us—that we may also be moved to serve Him, to serve Him even to offer our lives unto Him.
Allow us not to be moved by the seductions of this world. Help us to be fixed with our eyes focusing on Him always. We follow Him and serve Him and give all things that we can for His glory and His blessing.
Continue to use Thy people to be Thy light so that others may come to the saving grace of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus, and may see the truth through the preaching of Thy Word.
Thank You, Lord, for Thy mercy and grace upon all of us. We ask and give Thee thanks for all these things—in Jesus’ name. Amen.
愿恩惠、平安从我们的父神和主救主耶稣基督归于你们。感谢神赐此特权，得以在神面前、在你们面前分享希伯来书10章1-18节的经文：《完美的祭》。
我曾遇到一个人对我说："你们基督徒很软弱，总是依赖一个叫耶稣基督的人。为什么不能靠自己行善、行义、祝福他人？为什么总要依赖耶稣基督的作为？你们拄着拐杖——耶稣就是你们的拐杖。你们是软弱的人。"
确实，教会历史中总有人试图贬低、削弱基督完美祭牲的价值。甚至在圣经时代就有异端教导。使徒保罗时期的犹太主义者说："单信祂为我们成就的还不够，单信主耶稣基督在十字架上完成的还不够。我们必须继续献祭，必须继续遵行摩西的律法——行割礼、向圣殿献祭、遵守旧约的一切诫命。"
即使在使徒约翰晚年，仍有人试图否定主救主耶稣基督的伟大牺牲。诺斯底主义者宣称："耶稣并非真以神身份降临，只是个幻影，是人的想象。被钉十字架的并非基督——祂在临死前已离开那人的身体。"
还有人质疑基督之死的充分性，说祂不是完全的神，只是人，是50%的神。亚流派主张："我们需要做些事来补全基督的工作，因祂未完成救赎所需的一切。"
宗教改革后，某些所谓的改革宗加尔文主义神学家试图否定我们主救主的救赎论。他们说："基督钉十字架只是展示神对罪人的愤怒，为感动人接受祂。"他们认为人并非全然败坏，自己仍有能力相信、接受、选择主耶稣基督。所以这不是为我们的罪而死，只是神对罪人愤怒的展示。
这些都在教会历史中不断出现，贬低主耶稣基督牺牲的价值。而希伯来书第10章清楚教导——我相信本书作者是保罗——主耶稣基督的祭牲过去完美、现在完美、永远完美，永远是唯一可信赖的祭牲，唯一可依靠的祭牲。
他说这祭牲在律法中已有预表。当神看见人无法成就自己的救恩，无法为救赎做任何事时，就在律法中预定将有弥赛亚——女人的后裔——到来。神要百姓明白：这位弥赛亚来临之时，必要献上祭牲。祂将舍命，在十字架上流血（虽未明说十字架，但必流血）。
当你仰望这位弥赛亚的工作时，必须明白这事必要成就，且必须照神在礼仪律中的规定来演示。神设立这些礼仪律，是要他们相信并仰望弥赛亚将要成就的事。
正如第1节所言：
"律法既是将来美事的影儿，不是本物的真像，总不能藉着每年常献的祭牲叫那近前来的人得以完全。"
他阐明这些礼仪祭牲只是影儿——我们明白影儿是什么：当光线投射到物体上，会出现暗影，代表实体的存在。这是前瞻性的预表。你必须遵行这些礼仪，才能明白弥赛亚要做的事。你必须献动物祭牲。
其实这制度在摩西之前就已设立。我们知道神对亚当夏娃的吩咐——因为亚伯和该隐已开始献祭。可见这预表是要指向实体。希伯来书作者告诉读者：这是实体的记号或指向。这影儿指向那实体的真像，但它本身并非实体。
他说这指向告诉我们——告诉敬拜者：必须等候并对那将来的祭牲有信心。但祭牲本身并不能洁净你、救你脱离罪恶。"若不然，岂不早已停止献祭了吗？因为礼拜的人良心既被洁净，就不再觉得有罪了。"（第2节）
若献一只羊羔、一只山羊、一头公牛就能带来完全的洁净和赦免，就不必重复献祭。作者说"每年常献"，正因这些祭牲不能洁净你，它们是指向神命定的那唯一祭牲——就是弥赛亚。如同路标，如同指示牌。
前几日我们去菲利普岛露营，路上有标牌显示"距此80或100公里"。我们不会停在标牌前，因为知道还需前行才能到达目的地。标牌本身不是露营地，不是菲利普岛。
同样，作者说明旧约的礼仪律本身不能赦罪，而是指向神命定将要成就的事。为何需要祭牲？为何需要弥赛亚降临？
但我们都知道——我相信在座多数人都明白——我们需要一位代表，一位替代者。我们犯了罪。不单是行为犯罪，从母腹中我们就已是罪人。始祖犯罪，罪性就遗传给我们。带着这罪性，我们作为罪人生到世上，又不断犯罪。
所以我们需要一位赎罪者，一位替代者，因为我们自己无能为力。无论多努力行善以求赦免、讨神喜悦，我们知道做不到。*"没有义人，连一个也没有。"*圣经说无人能赎罪，无人能挽回，无人能自称为义。
神应许：*"我要差遣弥赛亚，女人的后裔要成为终极祭牲。"*祂就是那祭牲——完美的祭牲。所以旧约献祭的人——神预先告诉他们："你们要这样做，好对将来的弥赛亚有信心，要这样行以仰望祂的降临。"
第3节说：
"但这些祭物是叫人每年想起罪来。"
每次认罪、每次献祭、每次进圣殿，他们都想起自己的罪。但每次前来时，他们都必须仰望并记念：将有一终极祭牲为我们的罪得赦免而献上。
"因为公牛和山羊的血断不能除罪。"（第4节）
若你献公牛、山羊、羊羔，祭牲本身不能洁净你，不能使你称义，不能带来赦免。这只是表明必须有一终极祭牲。你必须相信神的应许，相信神的约，相信神对你祖先的宣告。你要持续遵行这些，仰望基督的降临。
作者说："是的，这是预表，但已在基督里应验。"感谢神，今天我们已不在预表的时代，不在仰望祂降临的时代，不在盼望祂为我们的罪献祭的时代。我们回望——祂已成就，已完成。祂道成肉身，作为人完全满足了天父律法的要求。
不仅是主动地成全神的律法，祂也被动地走上十字架，顺服神的旨意，担当世人的罪罚。施洗约翰说：*"看哪，神的羔羊，除去世人罪孽的。"*所以旧约律法中的一切预表——利未记记载的燔祭、赎罪祭、公牛山羊的祭——都已成为过去。
今日我们不再这样献祭。没有人带羊羔或山羊来祭坛前宰杀。我们回望各各他十字架上成就的事。这已在基督里应验。5-14节作者描述这应验。
首先，这应验在神——主耶稣基督——道成肉身降世时。祂成为血肉之躯，住在我们中间。祂必须成为人，虽然仍是100%的神，也是100%的人。我们必须从圣经明白：祂是神人，不是50%人50%神。祂是100%神，100%人，祂道成肉身。
第5节说：
"所以基督到世上来的时候，就说：'神啊，祭物和礼物是你不愿意的，你曾给我预备了身体。'"
祂以人的样式降临。不是幻影，不是想象。祂是神人，住在我们中间，成为血肉之体，替我们成就一切不能成就的事。这就是主耶稣基督主动的顺服——替我们满足天父一切公义的要求。
无论律法要求什么，诫命吩咐什么，我们都无法完全遵行。我们无法真正敬拜神。即使渴望敬拜，仍会分心。参加崇拜时，可能漏听许多讲道内容，因心思飘忽——或许有忧虑，有事务，有差事要办，忘记某事，聚会后要赶时间。我们会分心。
我们想全力敬拜，但做不到。我们不愿拜偶像，但日常生活中，世界不断吸引我们。我们贪爱世俗享乐，忘记神。
我们不愿说恶言，不愿亵渎神名。但心思言语中仍会犯罪。我们忘记祂是谁，埋怨祂的管教。
我们愿在主日专心敬拜。但工作、职场总有拦阻。现今许多基督徒把主日缩减为一两小时。若讲道超时，就看表暗示"时间到了"。主日变成了主日钟点。
我们教导子女孝敬父母，但学校灌输"父母不可管教"的观念。我们可能没杀人，但心里恼恨人。自以为没犯奸淫，但眼见他人妻子就动淫念。
可能没偷大物，但心里贪恋邻舍所有。不愿说谎，却妄证他人。我们想行义，却行不出来。
必须有一位来完全满足神公义的要求。祂不仅要成全律法，还要替我们承担罪罚。因我们犯的罪——一切过犯罪孽——不仅需要满足要求，还需承受刑罚。
论到燔祭和赎罪祭，"这是你不喜悦的"（第6节）。不是神不悦纳他们献祭，而是圣经告诉我们：这些不能带来赦免，不能使人挽回神。
于是祂说："那时我说：'神啊，我来了，为要照你的旨意行；我的事在经卷上已经记载了。'"（第7节）
这已预言，已命定，已写在古卷。我们坚信神的话被保守。若无神的保守，历经世代这预言如何应验？但"经上已记载"。
感谢神，主救主耶稣基督确实来成就神的旨意。此处引自诗篇40:6-8。作者引证旧约早已预言，你们当记念这事已成就、已宣告。
他继续描述这是预言的应验："以上说：'祭物和礼物，燔祭和赎罪祭，是你不愿意的，也是你不喜欢的。'"（第8节）这不是神要的祭物。
他说：*"后又说：'我来了为要照你的旨意行。'"*祂除去在先的，为要立定在后的。"除去"意为废止、终止。不必再献公牛山羊，这些已被废止。
到了菲利普岛，就不会再看到"距此80公里"的牌子。你已在岛上，无需再找路标。
作者说这就是终极祭牲。不必再仰望，因祂已来临。不必再等候，因祂已成就。
第10节：
"我们凭这旨意，靠耶稣基督只一次献上祂的身体，就得以成圣。"
借此我们成圣。容我读罗马书第5章助我们明白"除去在先的，立定在后的"。
罗马书5:12说：
"这就如罪是从一人入了世界，死又是从罪来的；于是死就临到众人，因为众人都犯了罪。"
"没有律法之先，罪已经在世上；但没有律法，罪也不算罪。然而从亚当到摩西，死就作了王，连那些不与亚当犯一样罪过的，也在它的权下。亚当乃是那以后要来之人的预像。"
注意15节：
"只是过犯不如恩赐。若因一人的过犯，众人都死了，何况神的恩典，与那因耶稣基督一人恩典中的赏赐，岂不更加倍地临到众人吗？"
"因一人犯罪就定罪，也不如恩赐；原来审判是由一人而定罪，恩赐乃是由许多过犯而称义。"
得以称义——我们在主耶稣基督里称义，在神面前成为义，有祂作我们的代表。祂使我们成圣。
回到希伯来书10:10：
*"我们凭这旨意，靠耶稣基督只一次献上祂的身体，就得以成圣。"*这是信徒地位上的成圣——当人信靠主耶稣基督，就被视为圣徒，被看作将要得荣耀的人，成为神的儿女。
不必再仰望别的祭牲。他说：*"靠耶稣基督只一次献上祂的身体。"*这是藉十字架成就的。除祂以外，别无拯救。惟靠主耶稣基督一次献上身体。
今日我们记念祂十字架上的死。这就是"受难节"的意义。我们确知祂已献上自己为祭。主耶稣基督一次献上身体——这完美祭牲——已归算给我们。当我们真实信靠祂，就在神面前称义。
从前祭司天天站着事奉，屡次献上同样的祭物。但这些不能除罪。献牲畜不能除罪，因那只是预表，是祭司的工作。
但这人——主耶稣基督，你我的救主——"献了一次永远的赎罪祭，就在神的右边坐下了。"（第12节）
注意第12节："但基督献了一次永远的赎罪祭，就在神的右边坐下了。"
"永远"意味着从亚当夏娃的罪，到今日世人的罪，直到将来末后之人的罪——过去、现在、未来所有的罪，主耶稣基督都已清偿。
祂献上一次永远的赎罪祭。不必再等别的羔羊被钉，别的基督受死，别的先知作中保，别的人宣称"我是神差来为你们赎罪的"。只有一位祭牲，就是主耶稣基督。别无拯救。
在其他宗教、先知或其他神祇中找不到。惟靠主耶稣基督。此后，祂被接升天，蒙父神悦纳——因祂死后被取下埋葬，第三日复活。这复活带来升天，如今坐在神右边，被神接纳。这工蒙神喜悦，是神救赎百姓的得胜之功。
神说："你坐在我的右边，这是你当得的，你已得荣耀。"注意：我们不要想象一位老人旁边坐着耶稣，另一边是鸽子形的圣灵。这是表明祂的权柄。坐在神右边表明祂拥有全权。祂是万主之主，在此显明祂为人类成就的完美救赎。
过去没有别的救主，将来也不会有。惟靠耶稣基督。所以作者解释："从此等候祂仇敌成了祂的脚凳。"（第13节）
这是祂再来的预言。祂很快要再来，作王统治这地一千年。祂要来执掌王权。
"因为祂一次献祭，便叫那得以成圣的人永远完全。"（第14节）
你我已信靠主耶稣基督。我深信并接受：惟靠祂在各各他成就的工，我们已得救。在神眼中，我们已被视为得荣耀的人，地位上已成圣。你在天上有位置，有无人能夺的座位，有为你存留的居所，因为在祂的记录中，你已完全成圣，在祂面前称义——因祂的作为得以完全。
我们如何确知此事？如何知道这真实可靠？
作者继续道：这不单由主耶稣基督成就，更是从起初命定的。谁来就祂？是祂约中所定。圣灵为此作见证。
作者说："圣灵也对我们作见证，因为祂既已说过..."（第15节）
这是早有的预言——不是在基督死后才说。这又引自旧约：
"主说：'那些日子以后，我与他们所立的约乃是这样：我要将我的律法写在他们心上，又要放在他们的里面；并且他们的罪愆，我不再记念。'"（16-17节）
这引自耶利米书31章。"那些日子以后，我与他们所立的约..."
耶利米生活在基督降生前五六百年。那时他已预言将有弥赛亚降临。当弥赛亚来时，不仅要为我们的罪献祭，还要预备信徒的道路。祂为将要来的人预备道路。
你今日在此，非因自己选择听道，非因有空闲无事，非因被迫前来，非因有人用晚餐邀约诱你来。你在此是因神命定你要在此。是神命定你听此信息，是神命定你被祂的话提醒。
"主说：'那些日子以后，我与他们所立的约乃是这样：我要将我的律法写在他们心上，又要放在他们的里面；并且他们的罪愆，我不再记念。'"
神要改变我们的心。当我们认信、相信、接受主耶稣基督——祂在各各他的工作——祂亲自应许要改变我们生命。不再视律法为重担，而是甘心乐意遵行，甘心顺服，甘心跟随主耶稣基督。
"我要将我的律法写在他们心上，又要放在他们的里面。"
祂使我们常被提醒已成就的事。
"并且他们的罪愆，我不再记念。"
何等甜美的应许！"我不再记念他们的罪愆。"
今日我们省察自己。即使我们这些基督徒——讲台上传道的人——也知道自己比你们更常得罪神。但多奇妙的应许：若我们真实信靠主耶稣基督在各各他的牺牲——正如今日我们所记念的——祂说："我不再记念他们的罪愆。"
相信你们近日在读弥迦书。这卷小先知书的末尾也有神的应许。弥迦书7:18-19说：
"神啊，有何神像你，赦免罪孽，饶恕你产业之余民的罪过？不永远怀怒，喜爱施恩。必再怜悯我们，将我们的罪孽踏在脚下，又将我们的一切罪投于深海。"
何等奇妙的应许！有时我们为罪自责，失败时怀疑："主啊，我真得救了吗？真是属你的吗？真能上天堂吗？"
我们有神的这些应许。但若真实信靠主耶稣基督完美的祭牲，就不必再记念——甚至不必再想——这些罪。
"祂将我们的罪孽踏在脚下，又将我们的一切罪投于深海。"
保罗说：
"如今那些在基督耶稣里的，就不定罪了。"（罗马书8:1）
何等美好！
作者在18节总结：
"这些罪过既已赦免，就不用再为罪献祭了。"
为何作者反复强调"不用再为罪献祭"？没有别的路，没有别的人，没有别的先知，没有别的赎罪法。不用再为罪献祭。惟靠主耶稣基督。
需知希伯来书写作时（我信是保罗所写，许多保守学者也认同），信徒正遭逼迫。应是在尼禄皇帝时期（约公元67-68年），耶路撒冷圣殿被毁之前。
圣殿尚存，许多希伯来信徒（本书原名《致希伯来人》）想退回犹太教。他们本已信基督，本已是基督徒（今称"弥赛亚犹太信徒"），本已跟随主。
但当基督教受逼迫时（公元64年基督徒被诬纵火烧罗马），他们想："这处境太难，不如重回犹太教，何必继续作基督徒受苦？"
他们认为："反正同一位耶稣，旧约早有预言。我们可以退回从前献牛献羊的敬拜方式，何必坚持这艰难的信仰？"
当时犹太人可免迫害，只针对基督徒。作者警告：若退回旧路，不仅是离开基督教，更是否认基督，否认自己的旧约信仰。
如同到了菲利普岛，却因太冷退回"距此80公里"的路标处。不仅离开岛屿，更是否认路牌的真实。
所以否认主耶稣基督，就是否认旧约预言——祂必要来，且已来临。作者劝诫："若离弃真道，否认主耶稣基督是救主，只为逃避迫害——就是否认信仰，否认旧约预言，否认神的约，否认一切。"
这对今日信徒同样重要。许多基督徒在遭遇经济困难、家庭问题、职场压力时，就减少热心、停止事奉。
当家庭变故、公司危机时，我们优先处理这些而非事奉主。我们退后，认为这些比基督重要。
作者说："若离弃，就再没有赎罪祭。"你否认信仰，退回世界，再无人能救你脱离沉沦。你是背道者，若不归信主耶稣基督完美的祭牲，只会继续沉沦。
若不悔改——若不回头，不认罪——我祈求我们真能记念主耶稣基督这完美的祭牲。
想祂所受的苦：被鞭打、被击打、在客西马尼园挣扎、背负沉重十架、被钉时的剧痛——不仅为今日的我们，更为过去未来的罪人自愿受苦。
若我们渐离主，求主拦阻我们继续远离。别无拯救，别无祭物。莫指望他人来救。
今日我们当继续跟随主。虽会跌倒、失败、亏欠神，仍要持续跟从主耶稣基督。不可退回世界，因别无祭物。
转离基督就是转离天堂路，走向地狱灭亡。惟靠主耶稣基督完美的祭牲，人才能得救进入神国。
祂已成就，已完成。
有位传道去乡村布道，邀请农夫赴会。多数人答应前来，唯一位说："今日太忙，要耕地，要播种。"
传道劝他："这比农活重要。"但他坚持："我必须干活。"
下午布道会时大雨倾盆，使他无法耕作。他醒悟："我错过了。"奔向会场时已近黄昏，人皆散去，唯传道仍在。
他问："请告诉我如何得救？我错过了布道会。"
传道说："成了！成了！"
他说："我还在这里，请用几句话告诉我当怎样行。"
传道说："成了！是时候回去了。"
我们只需信主耶稣基督。这就是全部。祂已成就，已完成，已为我们成全。
我们何等感谢祂为我们成就这事。我们算什么，配得这祭牲？我们怎敢说配得祂十架上的痛苦？
"成了！"
那日祂在各各他成就时，心中已有你我的名。祂为你我而死，为世人的罪而死——祂已全然清偿。别无祭物，祂已全然成就。
愿我们记念、默想、思想主耶稣基督这工作。
在菲律宾，受难节有许多迷信习俗。长辈要求赤脚参加"苦路"游行，从一站到另一站。
我们那里的柏油路在30°C高温下会融化，赤脚很痛。但长辈说："必须忍受，这是赎罪，能得赦免。"
我们以为模仿基督受苦能赎点罪，就忍痛遵行。
后来蒙恩得救，加入基要派教会。但他们认为："基督已复活得胜，不必记念受难节。"
我们庆祝祂复活。"哈利路亚！基督已复活！"甚至在受难日办露营。
天主教要求受难周禁食肉类，这是赎罪。但这间福音派教会为标新立异，偏在受难日烤鱼示威："我们不必守这些，基督已为我们成就。我们已得救，祂活着。"
感谢神带领我们进入这间信守圣经的教会。感谢神兴起圣经长老会运动。我们不仅相信复活，也相信祂确实为我们的罪受死。
受难日很重要——不是要我们补赎什么。"成了！"而是要记念祂为我们成就的伟大救恩。
现今许多基督徒轻视基督十架工作，只记念复活。"祂已复活，已赦免我们。"却忘了思想祂为你在十架上所受的剧痛。
愿我们记念主耶稣基督这完美的祭牲，默想祂在各各他所成就的大工。不仅记念祂为我们死，也确信祂已复活，并仰望祂再来。
求主赐智慧，在基督徒生活中常记念这些事。我们需要在受难日思想主耶稣的救恩，记念祂的复活，并仰望祂照所应许的再来。
所以让我们信靠主。作为基督徒，当持续信靠祂，仰望祂再来。不可减少热心、敬拜和事奉。当继续献上自己为活祭，是圣洁、神所喜悦的。
让我们继续向人传讲主在各各他完美的祭牲——这洗净我们一切罪愆的救恩。
愿主赐福，主帮助我们。
我们祷告：
我们在天上的父，感谢祢按完美计划命定万有。感谢祢美好的旨意——甚至应许祢爱子降临。如今这已在主耶稣基督里成就。
感谢祢是应许的神——祂已坐在祢右边。祢应许祂必再来，接我们到祂那里。等候之时，求主帮助我们记念祂为我们成就的事，好激励我们事奉祂，甚至将生命献上。
不容我们被世俗诱惑动摇。帮助我们定睛仰望祂。我们跟随、事奉祂，为祂荣耀献上一切。
继续使用祢的百姓作光，使他人归向祢爱子的救恩，藉祢话语的传讲认识真理。
主啊，感谢祢赐给我们众人的恩惠。我们奉耶稣的名求告感谢。阿们。
Grace be unto you and peace from God our father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Thank God for this privilege coming before thee before God before you to share this message from Hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 to 18 the perfect sacrifice What I was approached by a man who told me that we as Christians are very weak people We are dependent on one man called Jesus Christ He told me that why can't you try yourself to do what is good what is righteous a blessing to others Why do you always depend on the work of Jesus Christ he says you are using a crutch Jesus is your crutch You are a weak person And indeed there are many in the history of the church people who tries to diminish undermine and undervalue the perfect sacrifice of Christ There were those heretical teachings even in the biblical times There were Judaizers in the time of Apostle Paul who says that it is not enough for us to just believe in what he has done for us It is not enough for us to just trust what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross We need to continue on doing the sacrifices We need to continue on to do what Moses has commanded and that was circumcision giving all the sacrifices into the temple and doing all the commands given in the Old Testament Even in the later part of the life of apostle John there were people also who tries to undermine the great sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ There were those gnostics who claims that oh Jesus did not really come as God He was just a phantom He was just somehow an imagination of man And the one who was crucified was not the Christ He left the man when he died on the cross And there were also those who tries to undermine the sufficiency of the death of Christ They said that he is not fully God He's just a man He is 50% God And these arens wants to promote that oh we need to do something in order to further or to complete the work of Jesus Christ because he did not fulfill and do all things required for us to be saved Even after the reformation there were so-called reformed Calvinistic theologians who tries to undermine the siology or the salvific work of our Lord and Savior They said well Jesus Christ came to die at the cross just to demonstrate God's anger and his wrath upon sinners So that man will be moved to receive him because they thought that man is not totally afraid and we must have or we have the ability in ourselves to believe and receive and choose the Lord Jesus Christ So it was not to die for our sins It was just a demonstration of God's wrath upon sinners These are things that come into throughout the history of the church to put down the value the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ sacrifice And here we have in Hebrews chapter 10 a clear teaching the doctrine that Paul as I believe he is the writer of the book of Hebrews gave an outline here that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ was perfect and is perfect and will always be perfect and will be always the only sacrifice that we can trust It is the only sacrifice where we can rely on And he says it is a sacrifice that was foreshadowed in the law When God saw that man cannot fulfill or cannot do anything for his salvation When God saw that man cannot do anything for his redemption God in his laws ordained that there is a Messiah a seed of a woman that will come And in this he wants the people to learn that in the coming of this Messiah there is a sacrifice to be done He will offer himself to die and he shed his blood on the cross Although it was not mentioned that it was a cross but he will shed his blood And when you look forward to the work of this Messiah you have to learn that this must be done and this must be illustrated demonstrated in the way that God says you must do in the ceremonial laws that I have commanded you And in this ceremonial laws he wanted them to believe and to have faith of what the Messiah would do In fact that was what he said or that is what he said in verse one 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 offer year by year continually make the comers their unto perfect He now tries to show that these ceremonial sacrifices were just shadow and we understand what is a shadow It is a a dark or gray part when the there is a casting of light towards the to the to the thing or to the to the matter and it represents the presence of the real thing or the image the very image of the thing that is given here It is a foreshadowing or trying to look forward You have to apply and do this ceremon ceremonies or ceremonial laws so that you will understand what the Messiah would do You have to offer animal sacrifices In fact it was ordained even before Moses We understand how God told Adam and Eve and we know that this was told to them because Abel and Cain did those sacrifices So we see that in this foreshadowing the writer of the Hebrews tell the people that this is a sign or a pointer to the real thing This shadow points to something that is the very image of that thing but it is not the real thing And he says at this pointer would tell us would tell the worshippers that they have to await and put your faith on that coming sacrifice But that sacrifice itself is not the word that would cleans you The word that would deliver you out of your sins For then would they not have ceased to be offered If indeed it is or those sacrifices are the perfect or the fulfillment of the cleansing and forgiveness of sins of those who over then they would not have done it again and again And verse two says because the worshippers once per should have had no more conscience of sins if he is forgiven The moment he brings a land the moment he brings a gold the moment he brings an ox to offer and it is that fulfillment or cleansing total forgiveness of your sins then you don't have to do it again When the writer says it is done year by year because it is not the sacrifice that would cleanse you It is these are sacrifices that will point you to the very sacrifice that God has ordained and that is through the Messiah It is like a pointer It is like a sign Few days back we went to Philip Island or the camp and there were signs that shows from here there is about 80 or 100 kilometers We don't stop in that sign We don't stay there because it says there is still some kind of there is still a distance to travel We have to move and we have to reach that final destination That sign does not say say that it is the place where we have our camp It is not itself island And so the writer here describes the ceremonial laws that were commanded in the past were not in himself The cleansing the forgiveness of your sins It is looking forward to what the Lord has ordained for you to be done And why why should there be a sacrifice why should there be a Messiah will come but we all know and I believe all of us or most of us have known that we need someone to represent us someone to substitute us We have sinned Not only that we have sinned we are sinners even when we were conceived in the womb of our mothers The first parents have sinned and through their sin we have also our original sin and through that original sin we who are sinful people in nature sinners comes out or delivered into this world by our parents and we sin continually daily So we need somebody we need someone to atone and substitute us because we cannot do it by ourselves How much we try to do good things in order to be forgiven to be pleasing before God we know that we cannot do it There is none righteous No not one The Bible says no one can expedate or no one can propate or no one can make himself righteous before God And God has promised I will send the Messiah I will send the seed of the woman to be the final sacrifice He is the sacrifice the perfect sacrifice So those who have gone through the sacrifices in the Old Testament God foretold you have to do this so that you will have faith on the coming Messiah and you have to do this in order to look forward to his coming And in verse three it says "But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year Every time they confess every time they offer every time they come to the temple they're reminded of their sins But every time they come they must look over and remember that there is a final offering of this sacrifice to the cleansing and forgiveness of our sins For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins Verse four If you offer sacrifices if you offer bulls or ox or goats or lamb that offering itself will not cleanse you That offering itself will not for will not let you be cleansed and be righteous That offering itself will not grant you forgiveness of your sins That just show how there be a final offering that will be done You have to believe in the promise of God You have to believe in the covenant of God You have to believe what God has told your forefathers And you continue on doing this looking forward to the coming of Christ So the author says yes it is it was foreshadow but it was fulfilled in Christ We thank God that today we are not in the age of foreshadowing in the Lord We are not in the time when we look forward to his coming We are not in the time that we are hoping that he will come to offer himself as a sacrifice of our sins We look back he had done it He finished it He has gone through the life on earth in order to give himself as a man who fulfilled all the demands of the law that was given by the father and not only the active fulfillment of the law of God but he also passively went to the cross obeyed what God has said so that he will receive the punishment ment of the sins of the world John the Baptist says is the lamb of God takes away the sins of the world So all the foreshadowing in the law all what was described in the book of Leviticus or the giving of the offering of sacrifices offering of burnt offerings offering of those lamb goat bulls were done in the past and today we don't do it here And nobody is bringing a lamb or a goat here to be sacrificed on the altar We look back on what was done on the cross of Calvary So that was fulfilled by Christ and in verses 5 to 14 the writer describes this fulfillment His fulfillment was done in the first place when God the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in the incarnation We talk of incarnation God became flesh He dwelt among us He need to be one with us He need to be man himself Although he remains to be God 100% he is also man 100% That we must understand from the scripture He is God man He is not 50% man and 50% God He is 100% God He is 100% man He was incarnated And so here in verse 5 it says "Wherefore then or when he cometh into the world he said sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not but a body as thou prepared me a body He came as a man He was not a phantom He was not a an imagination He came here on this world God man He dwelt among us He became flesh so that he fulfilled everything that we cannot do And that is the active obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ Then that everything that was required by God the Father for us which we cannot do Whatever works we we are required to do the laws of God the commandments of God we cannot do all this We cannot worship truly God Even though how much we desire to worship the Lord we are distracted in many ways We come to the worship service Sometime we miss many things in the sermon or whatever things we do here because sometimes the our minds wonder There may be some concerns There may be some kind of business There may be some kind of errands that we have to do We forget something We have to go after the service and we are to to be there on time We are distracted We want to worship fully but we cannot do it We don't want to worship idols And yet in our daily lives the world is there to disrupt and try to catch our attention And we love the things and the pleasures of the world And we forget about God We don't want to say bad things We don't want to blame the name of God But somehow in our minds and in our thoughts we do and we say things that are against God We forget who he is We question the murmur of his dealings with us We want to worship God always during the Lord's days But sometimes our office our workplace there are so many things that pulls us away from coming to worship the Lord in the Lord's name Many people Christians today just take the Lord's take us a few hours one and a half hour that's all If you if the preacher will extend few minutes will complain you will look at your watches and show to the preacher it's all already time we the Lord's day is brought into a lord's hour the children today we teach them how to honor their parents but we know how they are told and trained in the schools that you can can allow your parents to to discipline you Do something to fulfill what the Bible has said on chasing and disciplining children We might not have killed a person but we know in our minds in our hearts there are there are people that we are angry we hate we think we are not committing adultery And yet we know in our eyes and in our minds we see other things other other women wives of other men that we lust after We know we are not stealing not stealing in big things but in our heart as we desire that these things are ours how we look forward that I can have that my neighbors have this I should have that I should have all this we don't want to lie and yet we are telling and even accusing others also and in all these things we covered the things of this world we desire to do what is right but we cannot do it one must come to fulfill all this perfectly and have only a perfect fulfillment of the commands of God the demands of the father through him he also must pay the penalty to our sins because we have done the sins that that all the things that we have done or have made before God all the transgressions all the iniquities So it's not just fulfilling the demands but also the pain of the punishment He says in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin that was had no pleasure It is not that God was not pleased with them in coming when they come to offer sacrifices But here the Bible tells us that it is not through this that we can be forgiven It is not through this that we can be at home or be reconciled to God That said I lo I come in the volume of the book It is written of me It has been prophesied It has been ordained It has been written in the past And this is our trust that truly God's word is preserved Because without God's preservation of his word how can this be fulfilled if it has changed throughout the ages there is no fulfillment in the volume of the book But it is written we thank God that indeed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came to do the will of God This quotation here is taken from Psalm 40 6 to8 The writer wrote this in order to prove to the recipients of this letter that it was said and told by the signs in the past And you have to remember that this was done This was made This was declared And he continued to describe that this is the fulfillment of what has been prophesied above when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou not neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the Lord It is not through these sacrifices So he says here and continues to describe the Messiah who comes and in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ Then said he lo I come to do thy will oh God taketh away the first that he may establish the second The word take it away is to put to death to stop to fully cause it to seize No more will you do it again No more will you look forward to come and over bulls and ox and lambs or goats It has been put to death When we arrived in Philip Island there was no sign 50 km or 80 km because we were there You don't need a sign that you have to go further It is not there is no sign that you have to go turn right or left You are there in the island And the writer says here is the final sacrifice No more looking forward because we are here No more looking to the coming because he came In verse 10 he says "By the which will we are sanctified Through this we are sanctified." Let me just bring you back to Romans chapter 5 in order for us to fully understand what this taking away the first that he may establish the second year Let me just read to you Romans chapter 5 And this is the the covenant of God is Christ And verse 12 says Romans 5:12 Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world This is Adam And death by sin and so death passed upon all men For that all have sinned All have sinned For unto the Lord for unto the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there is no law Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similarity of Adam's transgression who is the figure of him that was to come Take note of this in verse 15 But not as the offense so also is the free gift For if through the offense of one may be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many not as it was by one that sin so is the gift For the judgment was by one to condemnation but the grief but a free gift is of many offenses unto justification unto justification We are justified in the Lord Jesus Christ We are made righteous before God We are represented by him He made us sanctified Back to chapter 10 of Hebrews verse 10 By the which will we are sanctified This is the positional sanctification of the believer by which when he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ he is now seen as saint is now seen as one who is to be glorified is now seen as a child of God didn't have to look forward for another sacrifice he says here through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all it was through his death on the cross there is no other way by which a person can be saved is only through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all And we understand this today as we remember his death on the cross This is the good thing in Good Friday We know that he indeed offered himself to die on the cross And that sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all his perfect sacrifice is credited to us by which when we truly believe and trust in him we are made righteous before his presence In the past the priests standed daily ministering and offering often times the same sacrifices But those things they cannot take away sins The bringing of animals cannot take away sins because that was just a foreshadow and that was done by the priests But this man the Lord Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior my Lord and Savior after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God Now take note of this in verse 12 He says "He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever." Forever This means that the sins in the past starting from Adam and Eve to the sins of the this generation who are in this world today and even to the last generation that will come All of these sins past present and future are all paid by the Lord Jesus Christ He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever We don't look forward in the years to come another lamb who will be crucified Another Christ that will be crucified Another prophet that will represent man Another man who will say I am here I am sent by God to sacrifice in order to be for you to be forgiven There is just one sacrifice and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ There is no other You can find it in prophets and any gods other religions It is only through the Lord Jesus Christ and after that he was received pleasing before the father because after his death on the cross he was taken down buried and then he rose again after the third day and this resurrection got gave into the ascension and that he is now sitting at the right hand of God accepted before God It was pleasing to God It was God's victorious work to redeem his people God says "You sit down at my right hand This is what you deserve You are glorified." Take note we don't think of a picture of a an old man and the side there is Jesus and the other side is is a so-called Holy Spirit a dog It is giving him the authority Sitting down on the right hand of God is giving him full authority He's the Lord of lords the God of all gods and He is here demonstrated as one who has done that perfect work for the redemption of mankind There was no other savior in the past no other savior in the future It is only through Jesus Christ That's why the writer here explains from henceforth expecting till his enemies remain his foottool And this is the prophecy of his coming He soon will come and he will reign and he will be the king on this earth for a thousand years He will come to rule this world For because of his one-time offering he had perfected forever them that are sanctified You and me have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ And I believe and receive and have fully acknowledged that it is only his work on Calvary that saved us is already seen as people who are glorified positionally sanctified before God You have a place in heaven You have a seat that no one can take place You have a place that no one can take over There is that place for you because you in his eyes and in his record is already perfectly sanctified justified before you perfected because of what he has done And how can we be assured of this how do we know that this is really sure how do we know that this is really the case the writer continues on is not just fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ It has been fixed even from the beginning Who are those who will come to him fixed by his covenant it was witnessed by the Holy Ghost The writer says "Where of the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us For after that he had said before it was said before not that after the death of Christ but even before and this was again a quotation of a of a verse in the Old Testament This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days This is taking from Jeremiah by the way Jeremiah 31 It says here this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days They know Jeremiah lived 500 to 600 years before the birth of Christ He was already prophesied in those days that there will come a Messiah And when the Messiah will come not only that he will offer sacrifice for us he will also prepare the past of those who will believe He prepares the past of those who will come You are here not because it is it is your will and choice to listen to this message You are not here because you just want to be here You are not here because you have a free time or you have no other place to go this evening You are not here because somebody forced you to come You are not here because somebody pulled you and promised you something to eat later in the supper It's not because of those promises you are here because God ordains that you will be here It is God who ordains that you will hear this message It is God that ordains that you will be reminded of his word I will make with them after those days say the Lord I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more God will change our hearts When we recognize acknowledge believe trust and receive and believe the Lord Jesus Christ his work on Calvary he himself has promised that he will change our lives Instead of having the burden of the dos and don'ts that they think of the law we have the love to do it We have the love to fulfill it We have the love to obey it We have the love to follow the Lord Jesus Christ I will put my laws in their hearts and in their minds will I write them Will cause us to remind always to be reminded always of what is done And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more What a sweet promise Sins and iniquities will I remember no more Today we examine our lives Even for us who are Christians we know how we fail the Lord Even though we are here preaching in the pulpit ministers of God's word we know that we are more sinners than you are We know how we appeal God But how sweet a promise it is that if we trust truly and believe in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary as we remember today he says here their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more I believe you are in the book of Micah these days in your studies But here we have in this book the last part of this prophecy the minor prophecy that of the promise of God And he says here in chapter 7 Micah chapter 7 18 and 19 He says "Who is of God like unto thee?" Remember this was given even before the birth of Christ who God unto thee that pardonest iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retainth not his anger forever because he delightth in mercy He will turn again He will have compassion upon us He will subdue our iniquities and thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea What a wonderful promise from God Sometimes we are convicted of our sins and we fail and we ask the Lord Lord am I truly save am I truly yours am I truly going to heaven we have these promises from God But truly we have believed in the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ We are no more to remember and even to think of this in God himself will subdue our iniquities and he will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea Paul says "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus who walks not after the flesh but after the spirit." Oh how what oh how wonderful this And he continues to to this end in this passage that we consider He says "Now a remission of this is there is no more offering for sin." Now why did the righteous continues to remind them no more offering for sin no more other ways no more other person no more other prophet no more other means by which you can be forgiven There is no more offering for sin It is only in the Lord Jesus Christ Now we have to understand that this epistle to the Hebrews was written by the apostle Paul I believe and many of many of the conservative scholars believe also that is Paul The writer was in the time where they were undergoing persecution It is believed that it was in the time of the emperor Nero because this was about 6768 prior to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem The temple was still standing and many of the Hebrews in fact it was originally titled to the Hebrews were looking to looking backward planning to go back into their Judaistic faith They were supposed to have believed in Christ already They were to supposed to be Christians Jewish Christians as we call today Messianic Jews They supposed to have trusted in Christ They supposed to have followed him But when there was a time where there was persecution of Christianity Christians were labeled as those who burned the city of Rome in 864 And they thought that oh this is a difficult state We rather have to go back into our Judaistic faith rather than continue on to be identified as Christians and suffer this great persecution And so they thought is the same we believe in Jesus Christ He was foretold in the Old Testament Therefore we can also go back step back and worship God in the way we worship him before Worship God in the way by which we can offer sacrifices again back into bringing the oxes and lambs and goats Why go through this heavy sufferings difficult times we can just return back into the ways of the past It was easy The Jews were exempted Only the Christians were persecuted And so the writer of the Hebrew of this epistle if you return back step back into that point you are not only leaving Christianity you are denying Christ and you are also rejecting your own old testament It is like going into Philip Island and then after reaching there it's so cold you have to go come back to that point where it says 80 kilometers and you stay there It's not just you are leaving Philip Island You are also denying that sign that says 80 kilometers from here is Philip Island So it's not just denying the Lord Jesus Christ It's denying the prophecy in the Old Testament that he will come and he came So they were challenged If you fall away if you leave the faith if you recount and deny the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior and lord because you don't want to suffer you don't want to have this persecution You are denying the faith and you are denying the Old Testament prophecies You are denying the covenant of God You are denying everything And this is also important for us to understand as believers as Christians Because there are many Christians today who rather would fall away or step back in times where there are some economic problems situations where we are so tied up try to step back from our zeal and our service unto the Lord When there are things that happen in our family we try to step back and prioritize those things When there are problems in our companies in our workplace we rather have to go into these things rather than give our service unto the Lord We step back we prioritize we think that this is more important than Christ And if you fall away the writer says there is no more sacrifice You have denied your faith You have rejected You have stepped back You have returned back to the world And you can never have any one to pull you out from that depravity You are a person who apostatized and the progression of such will continue on if you don't trust in the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ If you don't pretend if we don't go back if we don't repent if you don't confess that we have done evil before Christ I pray that we will remember truly this perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ How he has suffered so much how he was scorged how he was beaten how he felt that agony in the garden of Gethsemane how he carried that heavy cross how he was nailed on the cross that excruciating pain where he suffered not only because of us today but even the sins of the past and even the sinners of the future that he willingly did in order to save us And if we slowly have distant oursel from the Lord please don't go on and on and be away from Christ There is no other way that you can be saved There is no more other offerings Don't hope for any other person to come and save you Today is a day by which we continue on to follow the Lord There are times that we stumble We fall We fail We miss many things from God But we are to continue and follow the Lord Jesus Christ We don't have to fall away and go back into the world There is no other sacrifice If you turn back from Christ that means you are turning away from the path to heaven and you are now going to your into your quest to hell and destruction The only way by which person can be saved and truly be able to enter into the kingdom of God is through the perfect sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ has done He has done it He has finished it his one preacher went to a village and he had a gospel rally He wanted to invite as many farmers as he can He went to house to house to invite them There were many who want who agreed and they came But there was one farmer who says "Oh I'm busy today I have to plow the fields I have to plant tomorrow I have to do these things and do that The preacher continued on to tell him this is more important than your field This more important than your than than your agriculture But he says "No I have to do this." And so that afternoon the on that night a preacher on that afternoon a preacher did share the gospel Many came but this far farmer went to the field and but it prayed heavily wasn't able to do what he desired to do And so he realized that he missed something I should have gone through that meeting He ran to the meeting place It was already almost night and everyone already left the place but the preacher was still there And so when he saw the preacher he asked the preacher "Please tell me I know I missed the message I know I missed the gospel meeting but I want to know how can I be saved?" The preacher told him "It is finished It is finished." Said "No I'm still here You can tell me even in few messages in few sentences in few words tell me how can I be saved what must I do to be saved the picture says it is Yes it is It's time to go What we need to believe is truly what we need to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ That is it is faith in full He has done it has made it He accomplished it for us has fulfilled it and how we should thank the Lord for doing it for us Who are we that we are worthy of sacrifice who are we who will say we are worthy of such agony in the cross it is finished And on that day when he did it on the cross of Calvary he has in his mind your name and my name he died because of you and because of me He died because of the sins of the people And he died it he died and he paid in full There is no more other offering He did it all I pray that we will remember this We will meditate upon this We will consider this work of the Lord Jesus Christ When we were young you know in the Philippines there are so many superstitious things that we do And during Good Friday we were told by our parents to remove or to follow the what you call the procession come going from one cross to an outstation to another to follow the station on the cross And he says you have to go barefooted You don't have to wear your slippers or your shoes in our place is all asphalt you know that that kind of of uh road that where it is so hot from around 30° centigrade it will melt It is very hot It's painful but our parents would always tell us you have to bear because it's a way by which you sacrifice so that you can take some your sins will be forgiven We have to sacrifice It was hard It is difficult But we thought that by sacrificing by doing what the Lord Jesus Christ has done we can be forgiven at least of some few sins that we have done And we did it was painful Later when I became when the Lord graciously saved me we went into a church This is fundamental conservative But this church thought also well you know the Lord Jesus Christ has already saved us He already rose from the dead He is victorious We need not to reflect upon Good Friday We have come together and remember what he has done on the cross He is already victorious Hallelujah Christ is already risen And so we have camps on Good Friday on Monday Thursday as we call it and Good Friday and we and Roman Catholics we we are not told to to eat meat during the passion week that's part of the sacrifice but in this evangelical church so called oh we even have the roasted fish like that there in the corner to show off that oh we we don't have to follow all this sacrifice we don't have to to suffer we don't have to do all this because Christ did all these things to us We are already saved He is alive Thank God for bringing us into this Bible believing church Thank God for the BP BP movement And not only that we believe that there is resurrection We not only believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is victorious and he conquered death We have also to recall and remember how he had died for us And this is important Good Friday is important for us to remember Not for us to sacrifice over anything He has done it all It is finished But to remember how great a sacrifice has done for us For many Christians today take for granted what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on the cross You just remember that he is resurrected He's alive has forgiven us But we forget to think and to meditate upon the great pain and excruciating pain that agony that he had and his prison caused just because of you and me They pray that we remember this perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ that truly we can make ourselves remember also the great work that he has done on Calvary Not only that he died for us we understand he did resurrect and we are looking forward even to his coming again and pray the Lord will grant us the wisdom to remember these things in our Christian lives We need to reflect upon the good work of the Lord Jesus on a good Friday and look forward to his to remembering also his resurrection looking forward to his coming again as he promised for all those who believe in him So let us trust in the Lord As Christians we have to continue trusting him As Christians we have to look forward to his coming again We should not deny him our zeal and our worship and our service We should continue on to offer our lives as living sacrifices holy acceptable unto God And let us continue on telling others of the Lord's perfect sacrifice in the cross of Calvary that save us that erase and remove and cleanse us from all our sins May the Lord bless us The Lord help us Let us pray Our gracious father in heaven we thank thee for how thou has ordained everything according to thy perfect plan We thank thee for thy good plan that you have done even the promise of the coming of thy son Now thou has fulfilled it in the Lord Jesus Christ We thank thee that thou art our God who has promised also that He is thou seated at the right hand Thou has promised that he will come again and he shall bring us up again And while we await for that time help us oh Lord to remember what he has done for us that we may also be moved to serve him to serve him even to offer our lives unto him Allow us not to be good by the seductions of this world Help us to be fixed with our eyes focusing on him always We follow him and serve him and give all things that we can for his glory and his blessc continue to use thy people to be thy light so that others may come to the saving grace of thy son Lord Jesus and may see the truth through the preaching of thy word Thank you Lord for thy mercy and grace upon all of us We ask and give you thanks for all these things in Jesus name Amen