The Ultimate
Gift
Hebrews 10:11-18
November
19, 2006
11-18
And every priest stands day
after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices
that can never take away sins. But when Christ
had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the
right hand of God,” and since then has been
waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by
a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make
with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their
hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” he also adds,
“I will remember their sins and their
lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for
sin.
Someone sent me this e-mail the other week. It has a powerful message in
it so I am going to share it this morning. It is about a lawyer and what
happened to him after his physical death. “After
living what I felt was a "decent" life, my time on earth came to the end.
The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in the waiting room of
what I thought to be a courthouse. The doors opened and I was instructed
to come in and have a seat by the defense table.
The corner door flew
open and there appeared the Judge in full flowing robes. He commanded an
awesome presence as He moved across the room. I couldn't take my eyes off
of Him. As He took His seat behind the bench, He said, "Let us begin."
The prosecutor rose and
said, "My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this man belongs in
hell." He proceeded to tell of lies I told, things I stole, and in the
past when I cheated others. Satan told of other horrible perversions once
in my life and the more he spoke, the further down in my seat I sank I was
so embarrassed, I couldn't look at anyone, even my own Attorney, as the
Devil told of sins even I completely forgotten about. As upset as I was at
Satan for telling all these things about me, I was equally upset at My
Attorney who sat there silently not offering any form of defense at all. I
know I was guilty of those things, but I did some good in my life -
couldn't that at least equal out part of the harm I'd done?
Satan finished with a fury and said, "This
man belongs in hell, he is guilty of all I have charged and there is not a
person who can prove otherwise."
When it was His turn,
My Attorney first asked if He might approach the bench. The Judge allowed
this over the strong objection of Satan, and beckoned Him to come forward.
As He got up and started walking, I was able to see Him in His full
splendor and majesty. I realized why He seemed so familiar; this was
Jesus representing me, my Lord and my Savior.
He stopped at the bench and softly said to the Judge, "Hi, Dad," then He
turned to address the court. "Satan was correct in saying this man sinned,
I won't deny any of these allegations. And, yes, the wage of sin is death,
and this man deserves to be punished."
Jesus took a
deep breath and turned to His Father with outstretched arms and
proclaimed, "However, I died on the cross so this person might have
eternal life and he accepted Me as his Savior, so he is Mine." My Lord
continued with, "His name is written in the Book of Life and no one can
snatch him from Me. Satan still does not understand yet. This man is not
to be given justice, but rather mercy." As Jesus
sat down, He quietly paused, looked at His Father and said, "There is
nothing else that needs to be done. I've done it all."
The Judge lifted His
mighty hand and slammed the gavel down. The following words bellowed from
His lips... "This man is free The penalty for him was already paid in
full. Case dismissed" As my Lord led me away, I could hear Satan ranting
and raving, "I won't give up, I will win the next one."
I asked Jesus as He gave me my instructions where to go
next, "Have you ever lost a case?" Christ
lovingly smiled and said, "Everyone that comes to Me and asked Me to
represent them, received the same verdict as you, "PAID IN FULL."
What a powerful story.
It goes along with the text written in Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews
wanted the readers to understand the miracle that God
had brought into the world by Jesus of
Nazareth. He wanted all to know that the ultimate gift had been given for
them and for us. His message was and is clear to all who are willing to
receive it. Jesus of Nazareth has paid the
full price for an individual’s sin.
Think about that for
moment. We live, and so did the people that the writer of Hebrews was
writing to, in a society of laws. We know that there are certain rules and
regulations that we must obey. We also know that if we do not obey those
laws that we will then have to pay the penalty for breaking them. Please
understand one thing this morning; I am not advocating that we do away
with those rules, laws and regulations. I believe they do help us to be
better citizens and they do hold us accountable for our actions.
As a young boy, I
remember those times when I had done something that I was not supposed to
do. The penalty was swift and quick. I had to go and break the switch from
the tree and take it to Mom. She then would spank me and say something
like: “This is hurting me more than it is you.” I am not sure that I
bought her confession as the punishment was being carried out.
I think today that I do
understand what she was saying. God knew that
the result of sin was death. A death that was much more than a physical
death. It was a death that brought eternal separation from the
God who created us. It was a death that took
one to a place where one was separated from the warmth that one received
from God’s love. It was total separation for
all eternity from the one who loved His created children. That separation
caused the God of all creation great grief.
He knew that he had to act in human history in order to restore His
children back to their proper relationship with Him.
Listen one more
time to these powerful words from Hebrews.
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them
on their minds,” he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their
lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no
longer any offering for sin.”
Through Jesus of Nazareth,
God has placed upon all who accepted him as
their savior His laws. He has placed them in our hearts so that we will
daily strive to walk with God and to walk in
the light of God. He has placed them in our
hearts so that we will recognize those things that would tempt us to walk
away from the light and love of God for what
they truly are, evil and destructive.
God has placed
his laws in our hearts so that we will remain focused upon our creator. He
has taken another step on our behalf. It is a step that he did not have to
take. It is a step that he wanted to take due to His love for each person
in this world.
God entered
into human history through Jesus of Nazareth
to pardon and redeem all who would call upon the name of Jesus and then
turn their lives over to Christ totally. That
in itself seems to be an obstacle for some who call themselves Christian.
They would have other Christians believe that there might be other ways
for them to know the redeeming power of the creating
God. The writer to Hebrews makes it quite clear that there is no
other way for those who accept Jesus as their savior. As a Christian,
there is only one way and that way is through Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth entered into
human history to redeem God’s children. Jesus
of Nazareth faced the trials, the tribulations, the cross and the tomb so
that others would be pardon for their sins and be received into
God’s loving kingdom.
The writer of this text at the very
beginning stated: “And every priest stands day after day at his service,
offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away
sins. But when Christ had offered for all
time a single sacrifice for sins, “
It is Christ
who has and is offering the only payment that is acceptable in the eyes of
God. It is Christ
who has paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we may live.
What great news the writer shared when he
wrote this letter and what great news he shares today for
God’s world. Yes, there are rules, laws and
regulations in our society. Yes, God has
placed his laws upon our hearts. The Good News is that
God has gone the extra mile.
God entered into human history and took the
sins of humanity upon His shoulders through Jesus
of Nazareth. God through His divine Son has
offered to all the opportunity to have their sins forgiven and the slate
wiped clean.
Eugene Bartlett wrote a marvelous hymn in
1939. It is in our hymnal today. It is a personal statement about one’s
salvation through the redeeming blood of Christ.
Its first line states: “I heard an old old story, how a Savior came from
glory, how he gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me; I heard
about his groaning, of his precious blood’s atoning, then I repented of my
sins and won the victory.” Its refrain proclaims: “ O victory in
Jesus, my Savior forever! He sought me and
bought me with his redeeming blood; he loved me ere I knew him, and all my
love is due him; he plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.”
The writer of Hebrews wanted the people
then to know that there is one way and that way is through
Jesus of Nazareth. He wants you and I and all
persons to know today that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Son of God who paid the price for our
sins. Jesus has defeated death and sin. For one to know that victory, one
needs to surrender his or her life completely to the Son of
God and accepts God’s
Ultimate gift.
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
