Renewal of the law

Hebrews 10:1-39; 6/5/2022; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang

 Introduction

Can the law be renewed?  What’s the point of this?  Because according to the perspective of humanism,  the law is probably the commanding heights of mankind.  However, from the perspective of God’s revelation, the law is nothing but a vessel for God to save mankind.  Then, the renewal of the law is a matter of course.  Let’s look at the first point:

 The law is a shadow of the things that are coming

Placing the law under time and space is closely related to the incarnation of Christ.  The incarnated Son, Christ, had the honor to transcend time and space, ​​but instead he sacrificed himself and assumed the image of a servant under time and space.  So that even the law dances with time and space, showing the pattern of the past, present, and future. First, the law is a shadow of the good things that are coming. Judging from the time when the Ten Commandments of the Law were promulgated, it probably began when the Israelites left Egypt and went up Mount Sinai.  Then, on the forty-year wilderness road to the Promised Land,  the Israelites gradually perfected the Jewish law and sacrificial system.  Although the Israelites faithfully offered sacrifices to God according to the law every year,  it should be said that they did not know much about the meaning of the law.  Judging from the story of King Saul’s sacrifice, he did not understand the meaning of sacrifice as deeply in his heart as Samuel did. I thought I’ve been waiting for you for so long, and if you don’t come when the time is up, I’ll make a sacrifice for you, what’s the matter?  As a result, of course, he sinned against God,  and God even gave up King Saul because of this.

Second, the law reminds people of sin every year.  I believe that in the process of offering sacrifices, the Israelites throughout the ages were conflicted in their hearts.  On the one hand, they know that this is God’s command, and of course they should obey it!  But at the same time, the Israelites discovered that even though every year they sacrificed, they sinned against God every year.  More specifically, the more you obey the law, the more you know that you are a sinner.  This is similar to our New Testament believers today, who believe in the Lord, how can they still sin?  Likewise, the more I pray, the more I know that I am a sinner.  Paul said: “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. (Hebrews 10:1)”  This is what we mean by “by grace we are saved by faith and not by works.”

Finally, write the law on people’s hearts. The Bible says that the results of a person’s life come from the heart.  Only God can search the heart and understand our thoughts.  Because the blood of calves and goats cannot take away sins,  burnt offerings and sin offerings are not pleasing to the Lord.  God is more pleased with our obedience to him than our sacrifice.  In fact, offering sacrifices is also God’s helplessness, by killing livestock to reveal our sins.  Every sacrifice is a reminder of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to Him.  These calves, goats and birds used for sacrifice were all created by God, and the scene of blood flowing into rivers was not pleasing to God.  Until Jesus Christ came, offered an eternal sacrifice for sin, and sat down at the right hand of God.  What is your attitude in the face of Christ’s sacrifice?  Confess by mouth?  Or do you also believe in your heart?   When the law is written into our hearts, it shows that we have chosen to believe in God.  Let’s look at the second point:

 The law is the preparation of the blood

This truth is not easy to understand.  How does the law prepare the blood?  As long as we understand that the sacrificial regulations of Israel are part of the law, we will know this truth.  First, the wages of sin is death. The premise of sacrifice is to satisfy God’s justice.  God said to Adam and Eve, the day you eat it, you will surely die. What God says is righteousness and truth. How to satisfy this truth?   It stands to reason that Adam and his descendants should die! Immediately after the judgment of the first patriarch, God made clothes from animal skins for Adam and Eve, and this was the beginning of the plan of redemption.  From the selection of Abraham to Moses, David, etc., the Israelites experienced life and death experiences of being captive and returning due to sin again and again. After Malachi,  God gave the Israelites four hundred years to reflect on what is the wages of sin and the doctrine of death.  When the time is up, Christ was incarnated according to the time predetermined by God, and He came to the world to carry out the plan set by the Father to save mankind.  Christ himself became the atonement Lamb who died on the cross for us.

Second, the purpose of progressive revelation.  From the skins of animals that God made for our ancestors to the death of Christ for us, God has used the history of the elect to show us the blueprint of His plan of salvation.  The blood of thousands of calves, goats and birds sprinkled on the altar, year after year.  Needless to say how cruel it is, its purpose is to teach God’s people the seriousness and dread of sin.  He also gave the law to teach the children of God that the law cannot save anyone.  The law can only convict people, the Holy Spirit can convict and repent of sins, and only Christ died for us can we be forgiven!  Christ alone,  of course, also includes the body of Christ, the church.

Lastly, the curtain, that is, his body. Paul said, “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)”  The sacrificed body of Christ not only refers to the body that was crucified on the cross, but also includes His resurrected body. Who is the body of Christ?  Who is the resurrected body of Christ?  Of course, it refers to His church, there are those who are victorious, and there are those who are weak. Or Philadelphia,  Smyrna, or Ephesus,  Thyatira, Laodicea, etc.  Especially in today’s last-days church,  Satan is focused on attacking.  Some are infiltrating churches, institutions, or various ministries, trying to deny the church.  As if Christ were a monster with only a head and no body.  All the work of God will be accomplished through His body. Let’s look at the third point:

 The law is the answer to suffering

Certain teachings today, such as prosperity theology, workplace theology, cultural theology, training theology, etc., are just unwilling to embrace the theology of suffering.  Why?  Talking about suffering, few people would come!  With fewer people, pastors may be considered unsuccessful. What Should we do?  First, do not give up meeting together.  Meeting together can be a misery for some, isn’t it?  A sitting is an hour or two, and with Sunday school, it will be longer.  There are so many reasons why it’s not easy to pay for these hours every week,  Is that so?   Now it’s an online gathering, people from all over the world get together and it’s very lively.   Can you show your face during Sunday school hours?  If you take notes while listening to the sermon,   Sunday School may ask some questions or share some learnings. Discipleship is the calling of the Lord, can you come and participate?  Church prayer meetings are the will of the Lord, and those who participate are inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Either suffering or a spiritual feast depends on our relationship with the Lord.

Second, the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.  Ananias in Acts deceived the apostles and blasphemed the Holy Spirit.  Paul said, “Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses!”  What’s more, how to ignore the great grace of the Son of God, Jesus Christ?  With bitterness in your heart, cursing in your mouth, and still unwilling to repent, do you really think that Christ can be despised?  Rather than that, it is better to expel you from the church now,  so that you still have the opportunity to be moved by the Holy Spirit, and maybe one day you will truly repent, come to Christ, and be saved in the end!   It is better than for the church to keep being a peacemaker all the time, but instead brings you to the day of the Lord’s coming, the Lord said to you, I don’t know you!

Finally, endure all kinds of hardships.  Whether you believe it or not, suffering will come.   What the Bible says is very clear, nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be earthquakes, plagues, famines, and death.  Do you still doubt it? Don’t think it’s strange that the gray horse known as the dead kills a quarter of the people on the ground at one time!  The Russian-Ukrainian War has been almost a hundred days,  and some people say that this is the beginning of the third world war.  In fact, the COVID virus has never disappeared.  Whether it is COVID-Zero or coexisting with the virus,  it is the powerlessness of human beings in the face of the plague.  Maybe most people are still dreaming about the peaceful and comfortable time, or the big dream of quiet time again.  Just not willing to be prepared to endure hardship!

 Conclusion

Dear brothers and sisters, the renewal of the law, in the essence of the process of God’s revelation, is the renewal of the essence of life. The core value of the renewal of the law is interaction with Christ Jesus.  If even the law has been renewed,  how about you?

Let us pray ……

Hebrews 10:1-39

1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 

2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 

3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 

4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;

6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.

7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.’”

8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 

9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 

10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 

12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 

13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.  I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 

20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 

21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 

22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 

23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 

25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 

28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 

29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 

30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 

33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 

34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 

35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 

37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”

38 And, “But my righteous one will live by faith.  And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”

39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.