SIN AND SACRIFICE

(INTRO) WE TALK ABOUT BLOOD A LOT (Me/We)

[1]WELCOME: Good morning Cornerstone! If you’re new with us on campus or joining us online, my name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the pastors here along with Joe and our other Elders. We’re glad you’re here and worshipping with us today. We’re continuing our teaching…SERIES: called ANCHORED based on a letter in the second half of our bibles called Hebrews. It was written to a group of Christians who were in the middle of a changing world, that were struggling because life was hard and unpredictable. They were looking back to the “good ‘ol days” and wondering whether following Jesus was really worth it. Maybe they’d go back to their parents’ faith that included going to a temple and…

· OFFERING SACRIFICES: Now, I don’t think anyone came in this morning and was thinking to themselves, this following Jesus thing doesn’t seem to be working, things are still hard, maybe I’ll go find a sheep or a bull and sacrifice it instead. The truth is animal sacrifice is something that is hard for us to grasp. In fact, it’s become repulsive and something that many people struggle with being part of the Bible. [2]This week I came across a festival in Nepal called Gadhimai [Guhd-he-mah-ee]. It’s a festival associated with the Hindu religion where every 5 years they go to a temple and sacrifice thousands of animals. In 2014, approximately 30,000 animals were killed in 2 days. Animal rights activists are disgusted and outraged and trying to get the organizers to ban animal sacrifice. It’s hard for us to understand all the killing, blood, and sacrifices. [3]Yet, if you didn’t grow up in Church, and you came in to a worship service, you’d probably notice that we sing and talk about blood a lot. “What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Or like we sang last week in the song In Christ Alone “For I am His, and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ.” I don’t think I noticed this as much until I was asked to come sing some hymns in a nursing home. Wow, these songs talk a lot about death and blood. So, why was animal sacrifice such a big deal? What in the world does this have to do with us today? We’ll look at these questions closer as we open up our bibles to [4][Hebrews 10:1-18]. Let’s pray and then dig into God’s word together and listen for his Holy Spirit to speak to us.

(TEACH/APP) SIN AND SACRIFICE (God)

[5]BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT SACRIFICE, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND SIN: It doesn’t do us any good to talk about a SOLUTION, until we talk about THE PROBLEM. Throughout the bible sin is talked about in a lot of different ways. One way to define it would be… [6]SIN IS ANY HUMAN ACTION THAT BREAKS, INFECTS, AND DESTROYS GOD’S GOOD WORLD. In the beginning of our bibles, we see humanity acting as if they were God, as if they had the right to decide what was right and wrong on their own apart from God. The result is that God’s good world is broken and infected. People are ashamed and feel broken, marriages deal with blame and power struggles. In fact, we see in the first 11 chapters that once sin enters the world, violence and murder grow. What started out small with two people grows into an entire culture of evil. Human beings get treated like property and life becomes disposable. Sin spreads like a disease and sickness. Sin is the ultimate pandemic that spreads and infects everyone and everything. So how does God go about helping us see the danger and effects of sin? God commands his people to offer…

[7]SACRIFICES: Animal sacrifice was already being practiced by the surrounding cultures. However, the primary reason for these sacrifices in those cultures was that the god’s were unpredictable and angry. If I kill this animal and offer it to them, they’ll be happy with me and won’t send a plague and they’ll make my crops grow. If I do this, God will be happy with me. But this isn’t the purpose of why God has them offer sacrifices. God chooses his people. He loves them despite their sin. He has every right to be angry and destroy them but doesn’t want to. He wants to help them see how their sin keeps them from him, how it destroys them. But the way that God used animal sacrifices was different. I love you. I want you to be close to me. I don’t want you to destroy yourselves. Let me show you what your sin does to our relationship, to you, to others, and to this world. I’ll use these sacrifices to repair our relationship. God used animal sacrifices to teach us and accomplish several things. The first thing that God used animal sacrifices to accomplish is to give us…[8]

1. A GRAPHIC PICTURE OF THE EFFECTS OF SIN: This was a messy and violent process. You would walk into the tabernacle, or the temple, with your sheep, bull, goat, or bird, and hand it to the priest. The priest would then slit its throat. You would watch the life drain out of the neck and out of the eyes. You would literally watch death take place right in front of you. Then depending on the type of sacrifice, they would chop it into pieces, take off its skin. The pieces that used to make a life were separated; the insides exposed. They would then place it on an altar and set it on fire. Nothing would be left but ashes and dust. This is what sin leads to. It causes our life to slowly drain away. The small opening caused by sin, gets larger and makes everything come apart. Sin ultimately destroys everything good and turns it into dust, until nothing is left. Everything gets destroyed.

o This may seem like an extreme example, but it’s fitting. A small sin that isn’t dealt with, grows, spreads, and ends in major destruction. We can see people start with the simple sin of lust and end up in multiple affairs, marriage ended, kids stuck in the middle. We can see anger start small, then grow and spread, until it has been passed down for generations and result in verbal and abuse. Pride, lying, gossip, selfishness, sexual immorality, greed, all start small and end up bringing disintegration and destruction. Destruction and death of ourselves, others, and the world is the end result of sin. And it breaks God’s heart, so he wanted us to see the results of our sin and choose differently. God also used animal sacrifice as…[9]

2. A COSTLY SYMBOLIC SUBSTITUTE THAT TAKES OUR PLACE: The way the sacrificial system was set up, it was expensive and COSTLY. If you sin intentionally, you have to offer a sacrifice. I cheated my neighbor. Sacrifice. I lied at work. Sacrifice. I lost my temper. Sacrifice. You were constantly having to offer valuable and costly animals repeatedly. Then there were sacrifices for the sins you didn’t do on purpose. In an agrarian society, livestock was money. Having to sacrifice animals affected your finances and your food source. It was costly. It was also a symbolic substitute. If sin distorts, deforms, and destroys the good world that God has created, then he has every right to make us deal with the consequences. Almost every major movie that has a villain, we see how awful they are, and we are waiting for the bad guy to get what he deserves. We watch trails of murderers and abusers and we long for justice. We privately celebrate when someone who has hurt us gets hurt themselves. But the reality is we don’t like to see ourselves as those who deserve judgement. We’re the victims and not the villain. But none of us have lived without sinning. We all have lived in such a way that we’ve told God, I don’t need you, want you, believe you, or trust you. I can control my life thank you. I know what will make me happy, don’t tell me how to live. And we have broken God’s laws and broken God’s heart and broken ourselves, others, and this world. However, because of his great love for us, he doesn’t want to destroy us. So, he provided a way for justice to be served, while still showing us mercy and not giving us what we deserve. An innocent animal dies in our place. JUSTICE & GRACE. There is so much more we could say about the things God taught us through animal sacrifice, but I’m only going to cover one more. It was…[10]

3. A TEMPORARY WAY OF DEALING WITH SIN & SHAME: The word that was often used to describe the sacrifices that were made for the sins of the people was called making atonement. ATONEMENT simply means “to cover”. Blood would be taken and used to “cover” things and people. The best image I can give of this is when Adam and Eve sinned, they felt like they needed to hide from God. They knew they had sinned, and they felt shame. God’s response was to kill an innocent animal, take its skin, and cover them. Now, did a pair of clothes change anything about them? No! They were still people who had sinned. They were who they were before the covering. But their sense of shame could be diminished. Not gone forever but diminished. God didn’t want their shame to make them continue to avoid him. So he covered their sin and shame. Instead of God seeing our sin, he saw the covering he placed on them. Instead of seeing their shame, they saw the covering made for them. God did all of this through the sacrificial system. A graphic picture of the effects of sin, a costly symbolic substitute that took our place, and a temporary way of dealing with sin. In his goodness, this is why he did what he did. However, he also knew it was just a starting point. It was incomplete. The shortcomings of this way were that…[11]

· THE PICTURE DIDN’T KEEP US FROM SINNING: As gruesome as the picture painted of the consequences of sin were through sacrifice, it didn’t keep us from sinning. Humanity has an amazing capacity to look at sin and go, yea, but it isn’t that bad. It doesn’t really lead to that kind of destruction. It’s not a big deal. Despite being given a picture of what sin does, it isn’t enough to keep us from sinning. That’s why in [10:8] it says, [12-13]“8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses).” One of the major problems that developed is that people could offer all the right sacrifices and go through all the religious motions, but in their hearts, they weren’t sorry, and they weren’t planning on sinning any less. It’s not that God didn’t want them to bring sacrifices, it’ that their hearts were hard and the sacrifices didn’t mean anything to them. This led to showing us that…[14]

· THE SUBSTITUTE WAS CHEAP IN COMPARISON TO THE PUNISHMENT: While the loss of animals was costly, an animals life was nothing in comparison to a human life. Oh no! I sinned! Guess I must kill an animal. Oh no, I guess I sinned. Must kill another animal. When the reality is, I sinned, I deserve to die. For us to see the true price of the cost of sin, we needed to see what sin cost us in terms of human life. We’re told in [15-16] [10:4] “4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” No animal would say, I love you so much, that I’m willing to die for you so you don’t have to. We needed a sacrifice whose life was infinitely precious and say, father forgive them on our behalf. A human life for a human life. Lastly, the sacrificial system needed to be replaced because…[17]

· SIN AND SHAME NEEDED PERMANENT SOLUTIONS: In [18-19][Heb. 10:1] We see that these sacrifices had to be “repeated again and again, year after year.” No amount of animal blood was going to keep us from sinning. No amount of sacrifices would be able to get rid of the sense of shame we carried, knowing that we were broken and unable to change ourselves. The fact that it was done over and over again proved that it was not capable of accomplishing dealing with our hearts and cleansing our consciences of the shame of knowing we’ve failed and not measured up or become who we were meant to be. It says [20-21] [Heb. 10:2] 2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.” So, if the sacrificial system was set up to (1) graphically show us a graphic picture of what sin does to us, to (2) show us the cost of our sin, to provide a substitute, and to (3) cleanse us of our sin and free us from a guilty conscience, and it was incapable of completely doing that, then how did God deal with our sin and shame? Through…[22]

(JC) JESUS OUR PERFECT SACRIFICE (JC) []underscore

1. JESUS SHOWED US WHAT SIN DOES TO US: As Jesus hung on the cross, he gave us the most graphic picture of what sin leads to. It beats us, bruises us, strips us of our dignity, and leads us to death. One of the reasons I believe that God chose such a brutal and graphic way for Jesus to die is to show just how truly awful our sin really is. I also think he chose to use the most evil way of punishing someone as a picture of what humanity is capable of doing to each other. The cross shows us both what sin does to us, and what sin causes us to do to each other. It also shows us what our sin does to God. It also shows us that God loves us so much that he came to keep our sin from destroying us. Instead of allowing our sins to destroy us, he took our sins on himself. Our sin was so bad, that God chose to die to deal with it instead of leaving us stuck in it’s consequences forever. The cross shows us that…

2. [23]JESUS PAID WITH HIS PRECIOUS BLOOD TO SAVE PRECIOUS HUMAN LIVES: Ultimately animals cannot be substitutes for humans. Humanity broke God’s good creation. Humanity must pay the debt. Yet, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son who became a human to take the place of humans. A substitute that was of equal value. This is the “substitutionary” part of what Christians called “substitutionary atonement.” Jesus’ blood was spilled so ours did not have to. He was our substitute. He died in our place. Lastly… [24]

3. JESUS GAVE HIS PERFECT LIFE TO COVER OUR SIN AND OUR SHAME PERMANENTLY: The writer of Hebrews quotes [25-26][Psalm 40] in [verses 5-7] and says “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer.” Then he says “Look I have come to do your will, O God-“, The writer was saying, these lyrics to the psalm you know, came directly from Jesus himself. He was telling us in advance that our sacrifices would never truly forgive us or make us right with God. But I’ll use my body. I will obey God not only in the actions I do, but in the heart behind it. I will perfectly obey God and his will. I will live a perfect life, then I will take your sinful life, and you can have my perfect life. This is what theologians call “imputed righteousness.” [27]It’s a fancy way of saying that through Jesus, God takes our report cards and resumes that are full of failures and sin out of our hands, and Jesus takes them from him. In return, Jesus hands his father his report card and resume, that is absolutely perfect, beautiful, and sinless, and God hands them to us. WE ARE NO LONGER SEEN AS SINFUL, WE ARE SEEN AS PERFECT AND CLEAN! [28]10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, (FOR HOW LONG?) once for all time.” [Heb. 10:10] [29]ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME, ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME WE ARE CLEAN AND RIGHT WITH GOD! That means that…

(NXT/INSP) COMPLETED, FINISHED, BEING MADE HOLY

THE WORK OF FORGIVENESS IS FINSIHED FOREVER. YOU ARE SEEN AND HOLY AND BLAMELESS. Praise God! When your conscience condemns you! When the enemy is whispering lies in your heart. You can’t be forgiven this time. Your sin is too big and too bad. You’ve failed one too many times. We claim the promise! No Jesus has made me clean and forgiven FOR ALL TIME! I don’t need to earn it. It is finished. His work is complete. Jesus, my priests work is done! He’s seated. Let me end with two things…[30]

· BEGINNING STEP/BE FORGIVEN AND MADE CLEAN: If you are here this morning and you’re thinking, I can’t possibly be forgiven, you don’t know what I’ve done. You need to know that Jesus knows, he knew you would do those things, and still chose to die for you. His desire is not for you to live in guilt and regret. He’s ready to forgive you. He’s ready to make you clean. If you’d like to learn more about giving your life to Jesus or taking the step of being baptized and physically experiencing the spiritual reality of being forgiven and made clean (check the box.) Finally, for those who are already apprentices of Jesus, we need to be reminded that we are…[31]

· MADE HOLY/BECOMING HOLY: BEING SEEN AS PERFECT, AND BECOMING HOLY! As equally important as being seen as holy and forgiven by God, is the process of becoming holy. It is about both. The writer of Hebrews says “14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.” [Heb. 10:14] We have been “made perfect” in that we are now considered to be right with God forever. Everything has been done to make that possible. It should ease our fears about our eternal relationship with God. On the other hand, it says that we are “being made holy.” God still wants to take us through a process of helping us sinless, and become more and more like him. He will use conviction of where we have sinned in our life to keep us coming back to him. He will give us strength to become who he knows we will be. So when you feel conviction, I’ve sinned. Don’t doubt your salvation. Say, God I’m sorry, forgive me, and help me become who you’re making me to be. [32]

I’d like to close this morning by giving you time to meditate on this final verse. “18 And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.” [Heb. 10:18] For the next few moments, meditate on 3 three questions and responses. Then we’ll continue in our time of communion.

3 QUESTIONS:

Do I struggle with feeling forgiven? Why?

Am I still trying to offer sacrifices of being good enough to be made right?

What would it feel like to accept that Jesus’ sacrifice is enough?

3 RESPONSES:

HELP: Jesus help me see myself as you see me

HELP: Jesus help me become how you see me

THANKS: Jesus, thank you for your perfect love and finished sacrifice.