S3E278 – Hebrews 8-10: Once For All

Transcript Podcast Introduction Today is Epistles Sunday. We’ll read Hebrews 8-10. I’m calling today’s episode “Once For All.” Design: Steve Webb | Photo: Tamanna Rumee on Unsplash Comments on Hebrews 8-10 My comments today are going to be very short, because the main point being made in these three chapters can be summarized very succinctly. Here it is: Jesus made the perfect sacrifice with His own blood, and that one-time sacrifice was good for all time. The reason the author of Hebrews elaborated so much is because the main audience of the book, the Jews, needed to be convinced from the point of view of one who, like them, at one time had been under the Mosaic law. Their entire lives, they had been told that doing annual sacrifices was necessary. To trust in the once-for-all-time sacrifice of Jesus was a huge change for them. I’m so glad the old system is no longer in effect. Aren’t you? Today’s Bible Translation Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 8 NLT; Ch. 9-10 ERV Support This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising=censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and send it to me here: SUPPORT. Transcript Download .txt file. STEVE WEBB – 0:00A huge change for them. INTRO S12E284 – 0:09Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. Podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily show where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year. Today is Epistle Sunday. We’ll read Hebrews 8 through 10. After the reading I’ve got some comments for you. And we’ve got an On This Date in Church History for you as well. The title of today’s episode is “Once for All”. The show notes page is at lifespringmedia.com/s12e284. And by the way, since this is Episode 284, there are only 80 episodes remaining before the 12 season comes to an end. If you’d like to send me an email, you can do that at st***@*************ia.com. Let’s get going. HEBREWS 8 (NLT) – 0:57Hebrews, chapter eight. (1) Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. (2) There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. (3) And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. (4) If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. (5) They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.” (6) But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises. (7) If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. (8) But when God found fault with the people, he said: “The day is coming, says the Lord,when I will make a new covenantwith the people of Israel and Judah.(9) This covenant will not be like the oneI made with their ancestorswhen I took them by the handand led them out of the land of Egypt.They did not remain faithful to my covenant,so I turned my back on them, says the Lord.(10) But this is the new covenant I will makewith the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord:I will put my laws in their minds,and I will write them on their hearts.I will be their God,and they will be my people.(11) And they will not need to teach their neighbors,nor will they need to teach their relatives,saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’For everyone, from the least to the greatest,will know me already.(12) And I will forgive their wickedness,and I will never again remember their sins.”(13) When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear. HEBREWS 9 (ERV) – 3:07Hebrews, chapter nine. (1) The first agreement had rules for worship and a place for worship here on earth. (2) This place was inside a tent. The first area in the tent was called the Holy Place. In the Holy Place were the lamp and the table with the special bread offered to God. (3) Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place. (4) In the Most Holy Place was a golden altar for burning incense. And also there was the Box of the Agreement. The Box was covered with gold. Inside this Box was a golden jar of manna and Aaron’s rod—the rod that once grew leaves. Also in the Box were the flat stones with the Ten Commandments of the old agreement on them. (5) Above the Box were the Cherub angels that showed God’s glory. These Cherub angels were over the place of mercy. But we cannot say everything about this now. (6) Everything in the tent was made ready in the way I have explained. Then the priests went into the first room every day to do their worship duties. (7) But only the high priest could go into the second room, and he went in only once a year. Also, he could never enter that room without taking blood with him. He offered that blood to God for himself and for the sins the people committed without knowing they were sinning.(8) The Holy Spirit uses those two separate rooms to teach us that the way into the Most Holy Place was not open while the first room was still there. (9) This is an example for us today. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices the priests offer to God are not able to make the consciences of the worshipers completely clear. (10) These gifts and sacrifices are only about food and drink and special washings. They are only rules about the body. God gave them for his people to follow until the time of his new way. (11) But Christ has already come to be the high priest. He is the high priest of the good things we now have. But Christ does not serve in a place like the tent that those other priests served in. He serves in a better place. Unlike that tent, this one is perfect. It was not made by anyone here on earth. It does not belong to this world. (12) Christ entered the Most Holy Place only one time—enough for all time. He entered the Most Holy Place by using his own blood, not the blood of goats or young bulls. He entered there and made us free from sin forever. (13) The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow were sprinkled on those who were no longer pure enough to enter the place of worship. The blood and ashes made them pure again—but only their bodies. (14) So surely the blood sacrifice of Christ can do much more. Christ offered himself through the eternal Spirit as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make us completely clean from the evil we have done. It will give us clear consciences so that we can worship the living God. (15) So Christ brings a new agreement from God to his people. He brings this agreement so that those who are chosen by God can have the blessings God promised, blessings that last forever. This can happen only because Christ died to free people from sins committed against the commands of the first agreement. (16) When someone dies and leaves a will, there must be proof that the one who wrote the will is dead. (17) A will means nothing while the one who wrote it is still living. It can be used only after that person’s death. (18) That is why blood was needed to begin the first agreement between God and his people. (19) First, Moses told the people every command in the law. Then he took the blood of young bulls and mixed it with water. He used red wool and a branch of hyssop to sprinkle the blood and water on the book of the law and on all the people. (20) Then he said, “This is the blood that makes the agreement good—the agreement that God commanded you to follow.” (21) In the same way, Moses sprinkled the blood on the Holy Tent. He sprinkled the blood over everything used in worship. (22) The law says that almost everything must be made clean by blood. Sins cannot be forgiven without a blood sacrifice. (23) These things are copies of the real things that are in heaven. These copies had to be made clean by animal sacrifices. But the real things in heaven must have much better sacrifices. (24) Christ went into the Most Holy Place. But it was not the man-made one, which is only a copy of the real one. He went into heaven, and he is there now before God to help us. (25) The high priest enters the Most Holy Place once every year. He takes with him blood to offer. But he does not offer his own blood like Christ did. Christ went into heaven, but not to offer himself many times like the high priest offers blood again and again. (26) If Christ had offered himself many times, he would have needed to suffer many times since the time the world was made. But he came to offer himself only once. And that once is enough for all time. He came at a time when the world is nearing an end. He came to take away all sin by offering himself as a sacrifice. (27) Everyone must die once. Then they are judged. (28) So Christ was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people. And he will come a second time, but not to offer himself for sin. He will come the second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. HEBREWS 10 (ERV) – 8:31Hebrews, chapter 10. (1) The law gave us only an unclear picture of the good things coming in the future. The law is not a perfect picture of the real things. The law tells people to offer the same sacrifices every year. Those who come to worship God continue to offer those sacrifices....