Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20110406.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Hebrews: The Superiority Of Christ To Errant Religions
Part V: The Superiority Of Christ's Priesthood To Other Priesthoods, Hebrews 5:1-10:39
G. The Superiority Of Christ's Service, Hebrews 8:1-10:18
3. Christ's Superior Sacrifice
b. The Finality Of Christ's Superior Sacrifice
(Hebrews 9:23-28)
  1. Introduction
    1. The Roman Catholic Church asserts: "The Holy Mass is the sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, really present on the altar under the appearance of bread and wine . . .'" (Loraine Boettner, Rom. Catholicism, 1978, p. 173-174, citing a Roman Catholic Catechism of Christian Doctrine)
    2. Thus, Roman Catholicism holds the mass is " . . . in reality a re-crucifixion of our Lord," Ibid., p. 174.
    3. Hence, the Roman Catholic Church's Council of Trent claimed that "all Christ's faithful should in their veneration display towards this most Holy Sacrament the full worship of adoration [latriae cultum] which is due to the true God," that is, they should worship the communion elements as God Himself as they become His body by "transubstantiation", Henry Bettenson, ed., Docs. of the Christ. Church, 1963, p. 371.
    4. The Roman Catholic Church also requires one to partake of the elements to gain salvation, Ibid., p. 189.
    5. Nevertheless, Pope Pius IV warned: "If there is a defect in . . . the due matter, the form with intention, or the sacerdotal order of the celebrant, it nullifies the sacrament.'" (Ibid., Boettner, p. 179, citing Pope Pius IV, Works, Vol. 1, p. 488) In other words, if the priest performing the mass lacks the right attitude or attentiveness in so doing, the sacrament is void, so the worshipers can never be sure they actually partake of Christ's body, and may thus unknowingly fail to be eternally saved in the end! (Ibid., Boettner)
    6. Hebrews 9:23-28 offers truth that wonderfully delivers us from such uncertainty and failure (as follows):
  2. The Finality Of Christ's Superior Sacrifice, Hebrews 9:23-28.
    1. It was necessary that the Mosaic tabernacle be sanctified with rites involving animal blood, Heb. 9:23a.
    2. However, the heavenly sanctuary required a vastly superior sacrifice to the Aaronic system, Heb. 9:23b.
    3. Thus, Hebrews 9:24-28 describes that vastly superior system, and it supplants not only the Aaronic sacrifices in Judaism, but counters the teaching of the sacrifice of the mass in the Roman Catholic Church:
      1. First, for our redemption and cleansing, Christ did not enter holy places that were made with human hands like Judaism's earthly tabernacle, for the latter was just a copy of the heavenly, Hebrews 9:24.
      2. Second, Christ offered Himself in superiority to the blood of animals that prefigured Him, Heb. 9:25a.
      3. Third, Christ did not need to offer Himself often as in Judaism or Roman Catholicism, Heb. 9:25b-28:
        1. In the Aaronic system, the priest annually entered the Holiest of Holies with the blood, Heb. 9:25b.
        2. Now, were Jesus to have to enter heaven's sanctuary again, He would have to die again, Heb. 9:26a.
        3. Yet, "once" (hapax, "once for all," U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 765; Arndt & Ging., A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 80) did He come to put away sin, sacrificing Himself, Hebrews 9:26b.
        4. Thus, as it is appointed unto man "once for all" (hapax again, Ibid., U. B. S. Greek N. T.) to die, and after that the judgment, so Christ was offered "once for all" (hapax yet again, Ibid.) to bear man's sins, and he will appear a second (deuterou, the "second" in a series of events, Ibid., Arndt & Ging., p. 176) time not to atone for sin, but to save the redeemed who await Him, Hebrews 9:27-28.
      4. [By application, if Christ does not even appear again until His Second Coming, He does not appear in the communion elements, so they are not to be worshiped as God opposite Roman Catholic teaching!]
Lesson: Christ's death so fully atones for all believers for all time, He never has to be sacrificed again. He will return a second time, but not to atone for sin, but to deliver believers He has forever justified!

Application: (1) May we rest in faith in Christ's finished work on the cross for our salvation. (2) Since Christ does NOT appear as our sacrifice again, may we NOT worship any communion elements! (3) Know that our salvation is not affected by any conduct of any minister in any communion service where we partake of the elements: rather, our salvation was secured by Christ's death on the cross, and the effects of that atonement were forever unconditionally applied to us when we first trusted in Him!