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I. THIS GOD-MAN OFFERED ONE SACRIFICE FOR SIN. That was the sacrifice of Himself, which we may consider as implying surrender.

1. He offered His body (Isaiah 1.6; PEa. 69:21; Isaiah 52:14). These were sufferings of no common kind.

2. But, in suffering, He offered His mind. The sufferings of our Redeemer's soul must be considered as the soul of His sufferings.

3. He offered in sacrifice His glory — by which we understand how glory will follow up the shame. Now, our Redeemer's feelings were not blunted or stoical — nay, they were delicately fine; and when they called Him " a deceiver of the people," "a glutton, and a wine-bibber"; when they said He had a devil — that He was not fit to live: He must have felt the indignity with great acuteness.

4. He offered in sacrifice the consolations of heaven's protection (Matthew 27:46).

5. He offered in sacrifice His life (John 15:13; Romans 5:8).

6. He offered in sacrifice His will. He prayed that the cup of suffering might pass from Him (Matthew 26:42); yet He gave His person into the hands of those who put it to torture: He voluntarily resigned Himself to that train of overwhelming and distressing ideas, that threw His mind into an agony and bathed Him in a bloody sweat.

II. FOR WHAT PURPOSE DID HE OFFER THIS SACRIFICE? Whenever we think, or read, about the sufferings of Christ, we are immediately directed to sin (1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:5). This Man offered Himself a sacrifice for sin —

1. To avert the consequences of it. Jesus Christ paid the penalty, that He might deliver the sinner from the consequences of his sins.

2. He died that He might remove the presence of sin, by doing away the love of it; by cleansing the guilty in the" fountain opened for sin and uncleanness," — rendering the person " without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing."

3. He offered Himself a sacrifice to overcome the forfeiture of sin.

III. THE EXALTATION OF OUR REDEEMER.

1. This was through the medium of His resurrection.

2. And He has now " sat down at the right hand of God." God is a great and invisible Spirit, with whom literally there can be neither standing nor recumbency. We must, therefore, understand this phrase figuratively; and it is —

(1)  Expressive of rest.

(2)  Honoured.

(3)  Power, authority, dominion.

IV. THE PURPOSES OF HIS WILL SHALL BE FULFILLED. Of the adversaries of Jesus Christ we observe —

1. That Satan is the most subtle, ancient, and formidable.

2. Error. Error may be said to be a hydra with many heads. These systems degrade God's creatures, rob the Redeemer, murder the souls of men; and as such they must come down: by the general diffusion of knowledge, by the spread of the Scriptures, by the piety of God's people.

3. Another enemy is to be found in wicked, unconverted men. But these enemies shall be the footstool of the "Lion of the tribe of Judah." Upon unconverted men, Jesus Christ will employ His gospel on their understandings, and His Spirit on their consciences, and His providence on their circumstances and their bodies; and these weapons shall be " mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds."

4. Another enemy of Christ is death. He is said to be the last enemy that shall be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26).

5. All these enemies have been made by one worse than the devil himself, and that enemy is sin. To destroy sin the Son of God was manifested — for this purpose He offered Himself a sacrifice — for this purpose He has commanded His gospel to be preached to every creature — for this purpose He is, at this moment, seated at the right hand of God, invested with all power, to employ whatever instrument He thinks proper, and to give a blessing to those means that they may be effectual.

Application:

1. Here we discover the character of sinners. They are said to be enemies to Christ.

2. We learn, again, that these unconverted persons must be His footstool, whether at home or abroad. Will you be conquered by the sceptre of His grace; or will you be broken in pieces by the iron rod of His wrath?

3. We see the duty of the people to extend by conquest the triumphs of the Redeemer: to bring home His rebel outcasts, that they may be saved from sin and Satan's snare.

(W. Atherton.)

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KJV: And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

WEB: Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,