(5) Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:  “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. (6)  in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.  (7) Then I said ‘Behold, I have come – In the volume of the book it is written of Me – To do Your will, O God.”  (8) Previously saying “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), (9) then He said,  “Behold I have come to do Your will, O God.”  He takes away the first that He may establish the second.  (10) By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (11) And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.  (12) But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand if God, (13) from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.  (14) For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. (15) But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us;  for after He had said before, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them, (17) then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”  (18) Now where there is remission of these there is no longer an offering for sin. 

Our verses today, from the book of Hebrews, tell us the foundational truths of the gospel. They tell us that all of the Old Testament points to the coming of a Messiah to save man from his sins. That the Messiah did come. That Christ Jesus is that savior for man. That Christ is true God and true man and He came into this world to do the will of God – to fulfill Gods eternal plan for redemption of man.  In Christ, in His perfect and acceptable sacrifice, the repeated sin offerings of the Old Testament are finished. The new covenant is established – works will never and could never earn salvation for man. We are saved by unmerited grace through faith in Christ.

It is written in the New Testament that faith without works is dead. This simply means that the true believer will be reborn and saved at the moment of faith and will behave as he/she now believes – that because of the transformation in faith the believer is compelled to perform good works.  There is no JESUS AND. The Catholic Church teaches Jesus and good works – Jesus and purgatory. Other religions might also do this but my personal experience is with the Catholic Church.  This doctrine is a lie.

This is the message of Hebrews: Jesus Christ Is our eternal high priest.  Jesus Christ is superior and sufficient and His perfect sacrifice provided salvation for all those who believe in Him – their sins are covered in Christ and nothing more can be added.  Look at verse 17 – “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”  Merry Christmas indeed.