The Question That Changes Everything
When you're sharing the Gospel with someone, what questions do you typically ask? "Where are you going when you die?" "How are you going to have your sins forgiven?" These are good questions, but here's another powerful tool for your evangelistic toolbox: "What's going to be the sacrifice for your sin?"
This simple question cuts right to the heart of the Gospel message and exposes the fundamental misunderstanding most people have about salvation.
The Problem: Everyone Has Their Own "Sacrifice"
Most people we encounter aren't hardened criminals or drug addicts. They're good families where the dad works hard, provides for his family, and considers himself a decent person. When asked about the sacrifice for their sin, their answer usually involves their good works, their goodness, or some other form of self-righteousness.
But here's what Scripture tells us in Hebrews 10:26: "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins."
The Bible is crystal clear: there's only one acceptable sacrifice for sin, and it's not our good works.
The False Hope of Human Efforts
The Catholic System of Suffering
The Roman Catholic Church teaches a system of purification through purgatory - a place where souls supposedly finish their final preparation for heaven through continued suffering. This system includes:
Penance given by priests
Indulgences to reduce time in purgatory
Various forms of suffering and self-discipline
The belief that you can never know for certain you're going to heaven
But this entire system contradicts what Scripture teaches. Hebrews 10:2 tells us that if these sacrifices worked, "would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin."
The Problem with Good Works
People justify themselves by measuring against others rather than against God's perfect standard. How do you convince someone who's been successful in life - someone with a nice family, good job, and moral lifestyle - that they're on their way to hell without Christ?
The same way you'd convince a drug addict living on the streets: by showing them that God presumes us all guilty before His perfect standard.
The Solution: Christ's Perfect Sacrifice
Hebrews 9:12 declares that Christ "neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."
Unlike the Old Testament sacrifices that had to be repeated year after year, Christ's sacrifice was once for all. Hebreus 10:10 emphasizes this: "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
What Makes Christ's Sacrifice Perfect?
It's Complete: "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12)
It Purges the Conscience: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Hebrews 9:14)
It's the Only Way: "And without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22)
Faith vs. Works: Understanding True Justification
Hebrews 11:1 reminds us that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." We're asking lost people to trust in Someone they can't physically touch or see - but by faith, they can put their trust in Him and He will save their souls.
Hebrews 11:6 makes it clear: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
The James 2 Clarification
Some point to James 2 to argue for works-based salvation, but this misses the crucial distinction between two types of justification:
Before God: By faith alone (Romans 4:2-3)
Before man: Demonstrated through works (James 2:18)
Good works are the natural fruit of genuine faith, but they're not the root of salvation.
The Eternal Covenant
Hebrews 9:15 tells us that Christ "is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
There is "one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). Your sacrifice for sin must be Jesus Christ, or you'll die in your sins and end up in hell.
The Fearful Reality
Hebrews 10:31 warns us: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Many people today want to cast God off His throne in their minds, making other things their priority. But in their attempt to dethrone God, they're actually ensuring that God will cast them into hell when they die.
The Call to Action
So what do we do with people who, in one sense, hate our God, but in another sense, God loved them so much that He died for them? We love them. We share the Gospel with them. We ask them the penetrating question: "What's going to be the sacrifice for your sin?"
If someone shared the Gospel with you, if someone gave you a tract, if someone spoke to you one-on-one about the Lord - shouldn't you do the same for others?
The blood of Jesus Christ is the only acceptable sacrifice for sin. It's not purgatory, it's not good works, it's not religious rituals - it's Christ alone, by faith alone, through grace alone.
🎧✨ Want to hear this powerful message in its entirety? This blog post only scratches the surface of this convicting expository preaching on the sacrifice for sin. Listen to the complete verse-by-verse Bible teaching sermon to get the full impact of this biblical truth. The detailed exposition of Hebrews will challenge your thinking and equip you for evangelism. [Listen to the full message here] - your soul will be stirred by this faithful verse-by-verse Bible teaching!