Verse 10.

And by that will

“I have come to do your will, oh God.”

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And that is what Jesus meant when he said, “Tetelestai. It is finished. My superior offering has been accomplished.” The sacrifice that every Old Testament saint was looking for and longing to complete his hope, to give him the confidence of a standing before God.

Think of it from an Old Testament saint’s perspective. He stands at the fence, watching the events of the Day of Atonement. And as the High Priest enters with the blood of the goat, which was for the sins of the nation, he watches as the priest disappears behind the veil of the Tabernacle into the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, to offer the sin offering for me, standing there outside the fence, and bated breath, fingers crossed. Is he going to come out? Is God going to accept that sacrifice? He does come out. Praise God. We’ve been covered for one more year. As I turn away to go back to my home, on the way home, I see my neighbor, who I’m kind of ticked with. And my thoughts go in an unholy direction and I’m already defiled in my conscience. So much for this year. So much for peace with God.

And what if.... And this is a hypothetical, but what if that goat that was dedicated to wandering in the wilderness to demonstrate the removal of our sins -- what if that thing, three days later, came wandering back into camp? You know? There are a lot of things that these Old Testament saints, they just kind of had to hold their breath and say, “You know what? I think I’m forgiven. I think I’m right with God. I hope I’m right with God. I brought my sacrifice six hours ago. I’ve had some issues since, but you know.”

No more questions. No more reservations. Jesus Christ has made the once-for-all perfect sacrifice. And he said, “When it comes to atonement, when it comes to sin offerings, when it comes to the blood of a sacrifice being given in place of another, mine is perfect. It’s good for all time. Never another doubt.”

So, what’s the implication of all this? Well, again, I wish we had time to just go marching verse by verse through these chapters of Hebrews, but let me direct your attention to chapter 10 and verse 19, because he gives the conclusion. He says:

Therefore, brothers,

Okay? What am I saying in all this?

Therefore, brothers, since we have

Since we have taken this quantum leap. Since we are no longer in an Old Testament context, living out under the very shadowy images of the Law. Since now the real thing, the image that casts the shadow all this time has now appeared for us at the end of the age.

Therefore, brothers, since we [now] have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

Matthew 27. In fact, all of the synoptic gospels -- Matthew, Mark and Luke -- all record the event that when Jesus Christ gave up the ghost, when He died on Calvary, the veil, the curtain of the Temple, was ripped in two from top to bottom. That was no mere coincidence. It wasn’t fabric fatigue. All of a sudden, the fabric just because it was so old it just kind of gave way. No. It was ripped by the finger of God, who was saying to every Israelite that day, “When Jesus Christ, my Son, died on the cross, the door suddenly got slammed open and now you’ve got access to me.”

So? Having access ...

to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

Since all this.

22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,

Having been cleansed, with bold confidence, let us approach God and enjoy the rich fellowship that has not been our lot to this day. [end of track 9, 5:03] And, verse 23,

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

We don’t have to go through life with our fingers crossed. We don’t have to do bated breath any more. Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice, and He’s fully accepted by God in what He has done for us.

And thirdly, verse 24

And let us consider [now] how to stir [each other] up ... to love and good works,

Wow! When Jesus Christ hung on the cross, the object of hatred and shame and military brutality and all those things and the blood was pouring from his veins with every pump of the heart and His followers, particularly those women who clung near to the cross, and John, the beloved disciple, as they looked on and watched Him dying there, with a measure of hopelessness in their own tortured souls, not understanding the full implications of it, nor the powerful truth of the resurrection that was just three days off and thinking, “This is it; the one that we thought was to be the consolation of Israel is dying before our very eyes,” not realizing that the blood that was flowing from His body was the blood of their eternal forgiveness.

And the writer of Hebrews, among other purposes, is saying to his readers, “What in the world are you doing? Keeping on these rituals? Doing these sacrifices that can never take away sin? What are you doing that for? There is no more need for you to do these little works of redemption, because there is no such thing as a work of redemption. The only work of redemption is the work of Christ on the cross. Trust in it and you have full salvation and you have reason for confidence in fellowship because you have access to God. You have the power to live victorious over sin now because you have a relationship with God through Christ, administered by the Spirit of God. Quit saying, ‘I can’t do anything but sin.’ Quit saying, ‘I need to reform.’ Quit saying, ‘I need to turn over a new leaf.’ Quit saying, ‘I need another religion.’ Quit saying all these things. Jesus Christ has paid every last bit of your pardon price. And He is the power for you to live a victorious Christian life.”

Everything that the Old Testament saint lived for and longed for -- confident access to God, confidence of forgiveness, unrestricted fellowship -- we now have all those things in Jesus Christ. If the Old Testament saints could come filing in here and stand up here in the front of this church and look out toward you, they would be saying, “Come on, New Testament saints! What are you waiting for? Don’t you understand what you have? If only we could have had what you have. Armed with that confidence, rejoicing in that eternal forgiveness, go out and claim victory through Christ and serve Him with joy.”

By the way, that happens to be part of verse 14, that Christ,

through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, [to] purify [your] conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

That’s a whole other message. Today, let’s just celebrate access, forgiveness, a cleansed conscience, confidence before God in all those things. Let’s give up our love affair with our personal sins and weakness and let’s realize that, by the grace of God, we can live righteous lives because of the power of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray.

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you for the gift that we cannot quite fathom. Thank you for the work of Christ on the cross that we cannot explain, nor fully appreciate, because it’s beyond us. But, O Lord, help us, as the writer of Hebrews says, to seize the confidence, to live in the confidence that we have every reason to have because of the full and complete work of Jesus Christ on the cross for us. Help us, Lord, even as we leave this place to realize that the difference between us and every struggling saint of the Old Testament is fulfilled in this one word, tetelestai. It is finished. Lord, help us to cherish this word. Help us to live out the truth of this word. And Lord, help us to please you and praise you because of this word. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. [end of track 10, 5:40]

Hebrews 9

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. 6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.