Sermon for Sunday, March 8th, 2026 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament Reading:
[Numbers 28:2-10 ESV] 2 “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’ 3 And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering. 4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; 5 also a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering, which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. 7 Its drink offering shall be a quarter of a hin for each lamb. In the Holy Place you shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the LORD. 8 The other lamb you shall offer at twilight. Like the grain offering of the morning, and like its drink offering, you shall offer it as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 9 “On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: 10 this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
New Testament Reading:
[Romans 6:5-11 ESV] 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Gospel Reading:
[John 1:29-34 ESV] 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Sermon Text:
[Hebrews 7:25-28 ESV] 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Introduction
When work is well done, it is done once for all.
[REPEAT: When work is well done, it is done for all.]
You don’t want work that is poorly done such that more work needs to be done to fix the mistakes. You want good work, done once for all. That is what we see with Christ and his good work on the cross – a once for all sacrifice.
Being a communion Sunday, today we’ll be looking at a text from the Book of Hebrews with relevant application to Holy Communion.
The sermon title is “Once for All Sacrifice.”
And the outline is the easiest you’ve ever seen. There are three points that are summarized “Once, For, (and) All.” REPEAT: Once, For All.
I read Hebrews 7:25-28 for context, but the sermon will focus primarily on one verse, Hebrews 7:27.
[Hebrews 7:27 ESV] 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
“He did this once for all.”
I could have used Romans 6:10 also for this sermon, for it similarly says:
[Romans 6:10 ESV] For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
So that is our theme, ONCE, FOR, ALL.
Each of these words “packs a punch.” There is much theology intertwined with them.
I. Once
First we have “once.”
That word tells you of the power of Christ.
His sacrifice – his death on the cross – was so powerful that it only had to occur ONE TIME. And in that ONE TIME he secured the goal for which He set out; to redeem His people.
Once.
Not MANY TIMES. It is not some complicated series of tasks which brought about the salvation of the people of God, but it is the ONE Christ and the ONE Cross. His ONE sacrifice. There is no need for additional sacrifices, and we are not to think of Communion as a re-sacrifice of Christ.
There is debate over whether the Roman Catholic church thinks of communion as another sacrifice. So I looked it up in a Catholic manual and it has the congregation during the Mass to way “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands,” – that is, that which is in the hands of the priests. To be fair, probably the best way to understand their view is to understand that they are saying that communion (the Mass) is a sacrifice that is part of or a continuation of the sacrifice of Christ. But we understand that, as Jesus said on the cross, “it is finished.” The sacrifice is done, once for all. Thus, Christ says “do this in remembrance of me.” It is not a sacrifice, not a re-sacrifice, nor a continuation of the sacrifice of Christ. His sacrifice was once, for all. Over and done. The salvation of His people ACCOMPLISHED on the cross.
Once.
Christ was offered just once. That is what it says again in another place in the book of Hebrews:
[Hebrews 9:27-28 ESV] 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
ONCE. ONCE. ONCE.
This is far better than the sacrifices of animals in the Old Testament. Those sacrifices don’t even compare. They were complex and ineffective.
The Old Testament speaks of FIVE different types of sacrifices or offerings. There was the,
– The burnt offering.
– The grain offering.
– The peace offering.
– The sin offering.
– And the trespass offering.
And these were to take place at various times and occasions, so that over the lifetime of any one persons there would be HUNDREDS of offerings.
But here is the question for YOU: HOW MANY of these offerings of animals and grain, etc. did it take to forgive sin? [REPEAT: How many Old Testament offerings did it take to bring about forgiveness.]
Well, we don’t have to wonder at the answer. The Book of Hebrews in the New Testament tells us the answer. There it is written:
[Hebrews 10:4 ESV] “For it is IMPOSSIBLE for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.”
IMPOSSIBLE. Therefore, NO NUMBER of animal sacrifices is sufficient for the forgiveness of sins. A bunch of zeros is still zero.
This isn’t to say the offerings were worthless. They had value. The value is that they point to Christ, and the need for an EFFECTIVE offering.
ONCE.
Then, our second point, “FOR.”
II. For
The sacrifice of Christ was “for.” F – O – R. Not F – O – U – R (like the number). His sacrifice was FOR you, it was (TO THE ADVANTAGE of) those for whom He died.
Now, there seems to be an almost innate desire or knowledge of the need for a sacrifice. Consider the fact that sacrifices were made in every ancient culture, even Native American ones, so distant from the lands of the Bible. We know that a sacrifice must be made. Many, if not all, cultures sacrificed animals. The Greeks, the Romans, Babylon and India, those in Sub-saharan Africa, and the Shinto religion in Japan. Many cultures even sacrificed PEOPLE. That includes the Aztecs, the Inca, the Norse, the Celts, the Chinese, the Egyptians, and of course the Moabites in the Bible.
Why is it that sacrifices were made to appease gods? What did all the people of the world know? Whether it was passed down through the generations after Noah and his children repopulated the earth, or whether it is the conscience on the heart, the people of the world KNEW that a BLOODY sacrifice needed to be made in their stead.
The Jews knew about the need for a sacrifice even more than any other culture, for they had the revelation of God. In addition to all the animal sacrifices God called for, there are many allusions to that need of a greater sacrifice.
There there is the explicit statement about Christ in: Isaiah 53:5 – “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities.”
One of the most remarkable things about Christ’ sacrifice FOR us is that he did so OF HIS OWN DESIRE AND WILL. It was for the glory laid out before him that he VOLUNTARILY even WILLINGLY went to the cross, WITH JOY.
[Hebrews 12:2 ESV] … who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross …
And,
[Ephesians 5:2 ESV] 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Christ gave himself up for us. The authorities didn’t get the better of him. He went to the cross as planned from the beginning of time. It was always to be FOR His people.
Christ died ONCE FOR ALL.
III. All
Then, the third point. or third word: ALL.
Again, our verse says: 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
What is meant here by the word “all?”
Often times such a word will bring out the debate between Calvinists and Arminians, or even bring out the Universalists. If “All” means “each and every person in history, past, present, and future” then we’d have Universalism.
In the Reformed Faith we understand, however, that frequently in the New Testament when the word “all” is used, it is referring to “ALL of God’s people”, not “each and every person every,” but “ALL of God’s people, whether from among the Jews or the Gentiles,” whether “Barbarian, Scythian, Slave, or Free.”
But here in the Book of Hebrews, we might not even need to delve into that debate, because in the context, “all” is referring not to people but to TIME. [Repeat: ALL is in reference not to people but to time]
You see, once sacrifices were given DAILY, but NOW, Christ died ONCE FOR ALL. There is no more need for a daily sacrifice, because Christ has died once for ALL TIME! The work of Christ is a singular, complete event that does not need to be repeated.
So there is no other sacrifice needed.
In history, the animal sacrifices ended, certainly within a generation of Christ’s death when the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.
And the sacrifices have not been brought back. That is an incredible thing. Why should the Jews not sacrifice? We know why we as Christians don’t sacrifice – Christ is the one for all sacrifice. But the end of the temple and the Jewish sacrificial system, I can only think is in the plan of God coincidental with the fulfillment of the law in Jesus Christ.
All of what we have covered from Hebrews 7 is stated again in Hebrews 9 so that we can know the truth clearly.
[Hebrews 9:11-14 ESV] 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
And again in Hebrews 10.
[Hebrews 10:12-13 ESV] 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
So this word “all” emphasizes that Christ’s death was powerful, not just for one time, but for all time. His death brought about the salvation of people who lived and died before Christ, AND it brought about the salvation of those who lived during the time of Christ, and even the salvation of those who have lived and will live in the time after Christ. So there is not many ways of salvation, or different ways for different people, but ONE salvation in Jesus Christ. ALL who are saved are saved by Christ.
How are we to apply this text, and those points, ONCE FOR ALL.
Application 1: Nothing needs to be added to Christ’s sacrifice.
If Christ work was “once for all,” if it was work “well done,” then to our great benefit and relief, there is NOTHING we need to add to the salvation that has been achieved in Christ.
Of course, we are to live as Christians, seeking holiness, doing good deeds, praying, etc., but what a great relief to know that our salvation is not dependent on these things. The salvation of he who has faith is already assured BECAUSE OF CHRIST. I think of the old Alka-Seltzer commercials: what a relief it is.
Application 2: Let us find our assurance of salvation in Christ whose work was “once for all.”
Because Christ’s sacrifice was perfect and final, we ought to have complete confidence in and assurance of our salvation. We have the all-powerful God on our side. What chance does sin have? What chance does death have? What chance does the devil have? None, none, none. No chance at all. Christ has won the victory.
Conclusion
What this all means, for you and for me, is that “it is finished.” Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, sins are forgiven.
As we come to the Lord’s table, let us remember that His sacrifice was ONCE FOR ALL. Let us remember the Lord, who, for His love for us died that we may live.