Focus Scripture: Hebrews 7:26-28

26He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has now been set apart from sinners, and he has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. 27He does not need to offer sacrifices every day like the other high priests. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he sacrificed himself on the cross. 28Those who were high priests under the law of Moses were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made perfect forever.  Hebrews 7:26-28

GOD’S ____________________ REQUIRES A PENALTY FOR SIN!

for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.  Exodus 20:5b-6

ONLY JESUS WAS ____________________.  THEREFORE ONLY HE COULD PAY THE PENALTY FOR OUR SIN!

²⁶He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin.  Hebrews 7:26

JESUS’ DEATH ON THE CROSS IS THE “ULTIMATE SACRIFICE,” BECAUSE IT SATISFIED GOD’S JUSTICE ____________________    ____________________    ____________________    ____________________!

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF JESUS’ ULTIMATE SACRIFICE IS ____________________!

²⁸Those who were high priests under the law of Moses were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made perfect forever.  Hebrews 7:28

Answers:    Justice, Perfect, Once And For All, Limitless

If it were not for what Jesus did on the cross, we would all stand guilty before God and hopeless in the face of death. But through faith in Him, we receive the forgiveness of all our sins and the assurance that death cannot hold us.

“Abraham built an altar . . . ; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar . . .” Genesis 22:9

The sacrifice of Isaac is a picture of the mistake we make in thinking that the ultimate God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, that is, sacrifice our lives. Not – "Lord, I am ready to go with You . . . to death" (Luke 22:33).  But – "I am willing to be identified with Your death so that I may sacrifice my life to God."

We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this error, and the same process is at work in our lives. God never tells us to give up things just for the sake of giving them up, but He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with Himself. It is a matter of loosening the bands that hold back our lives. Those bands are loosened immediately by identification with the death of Jesus. Then we enter into a relationship with God whereby we may sacrifice our lives to Him.

It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a "living sacrifice" – to let Him have all your strengths that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus (Romans 12:1). This is what is acceptable to God.

Excerpted from “My Utmost for His Highest”, Oswald Chambers.  Discovery House Publishers.