Happy Thursday and welcome to the last day of January 2019. How did this happen? Wasn’t it just like 2005 last year? Time really does fly. We’ve seen some amazing technology created in our day but still alas, no flying car. Can somebody just invent this thing so we can all stop saying “I thought we’d have flying cars by now.”
Yesterday was a great day in the Lord, good work, great connection with a new friend from church and a great time fellowshipping and studying His Word last night with our small group. But as far as this morning…not so much. I’m going back to the dentist…uggghhhh! I’ve got an old filling from my teens and they’re going to cap it. If I were to sift through all their dentist mumbo jumbo, it sounds like they’re going to grind down my tooth and then JB Weld a new fake tooth on top. Makes sense, I guess. The cool thing is this dentist has a new fancy little machine that makes the fake tooth right there on site and they can install it all at the same time. I like that. The less visits to the dentist the better.
Well enough about teeth, lets talk about God. Specifically, God’s Word. We’re still in the book of Hebrews and today we look at chapter 10. The book of Hebrews is book of transition. Th writer is walking us through the biggest spiritual transition in history. The moving of the Jews from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant of Jesus. We specifically talked about the differences between the two covenants in chapter 8, if you missed it or would like a refresher, you can jump back and read it at the5MC.com. Just look for Hebrews chapter 8 – What is the New Covenant? By the way, speaking of the5MC.com, I’ve had several people tell me they enjoy the posts but don’t do Facebook, so that’s a lot of the reason I built the website. If you have friends or family that don’t use Facebook, please let them know they can still enjoy the posts by just going directly to The5MC.com in their web browser. The site is free, there’s no ads, and no strings attached. I built it, I own it, its free to all, just that simple.
Well, today we are going to see the finality of the New Covenant. That what Jesus Christ did on the Cross will never have to be done again. It will never have to be repeated. My friends when Jesus died on the Cross, God conquered the death of sin forever. Once and for all.
Let’s look at our key verse for the day:
“And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
I don’t want to rehash all of chapter 8, but there a few things that just have to be mentioned to fully understand this verse. First is that sin is ever present. Men and women are sinners and they will continue to sin against a perfect and Holy God. So that means that there will have to be an ever present way to deal with this sin. Under the Old Covenant, God demanded blood sacrifices. Animals such as lambs, goats, bulls, doves etc., would be slaughtered and offered up on an altar. This was to symbolize that sin caused death and without a sacrifice, the relationship between men and God was severed. The cost of sin is great, and it has to be dealt with. Because people are sinners and sin a lot, the amount of sacrifices under the Old Covenant must have been staggering. Just think if we were to revert back to the Old Covenant today, what sacrifices would be required! That would be a lot of animals!
But it all changed. God, in His limitless grace and mercy made a way. A way to cover the sins of man forever. Once and for all. He sent His only Son Jesus Christ. A perfect Son that lived a perfect life. A perfect Son that died a violent death on a Cross. A sinless Son that was eased off that Cross and placed in a borrowed tomb. But this perfect sacrifice didn’t stay in that tomb. In the absolute defeat of sin, He rose again three days later and walked of that tomb. In that moment my friends, God settled the death of sin forever. Once and for all.
The power, the magnitude, of this moment is of course more than I can explain, describe or give justice to. The simple fact that God loves us enough, even in our defiance of Him, to offer us the opportunity to spend eternity in His presence just merely boggles the capacity of my small, finite 3lb brain. I think when we die and enter into the presence of God in our glorified bodies that we might just be able to better understand His love for us. I sure hope to be able to better comprehend His endless love one day.
But as we talk about the glorious day of entering the presence of the Lord, it’s important to know that God is a Holy and righteous God, and He just like any loving Father has rules and regulations for His children. Good children obey their father and listen to his commands. A good father will not mis-lead his children but only do good for them. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:11
So what does God the Father ask of us? Simple, believe in His Son. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you. He died to save you from the penalty of your sins. In His death and resurrection, His precious blood will cover the sin of your life as you stand before God. He will not see the blackness of your sin but the pure white of His Perfect Son. Jesus will wash you white as snow. Listen to some of the verses God the Father has given us about believing in His Son:
“Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.” 1 John 5:10
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them.” John 3:36
“Loving God means obeying his commands. And God’s commands are not too hard for us, 4 because everyone who is a child of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world—our faith. 5 So the one who conquers the world is the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:4-5
“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” 1 John 3:23
“Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." John 6:29
“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” Romans 10:9
“but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” John 20:31
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.” 1 John 5:1
Wow. What a beautiful series of scripture from the mouth of God. My friends, there has never been a simpler invitation. Do you want to insure today that when you pass from this Earth into eternity, that you spend it in Heaven in the presence of God? The verses you just read above tell simply of the way to Heaven. By confessing that you are a sinner and that you are in dire need of a Savior to pay for your sins, you can have a home in Heaven today. God sent His Son here to die for your sins. All you need to do is call upon His name and He will cover the blackness of your sin with the purity of what He did on the cross.
I pray today that if you have not called upon the name of Jesus that you will. Our time here on this Earth is short, we are not promised another tomorrow. But we are promised a glorious eternity, made possible by God sacrificing a perfect lamb, His Son Jesus Christ. And in this He settled the death that sin brings with it. He settled it forever. He settled it once and for all.
Praise God for His precious Son Jesus Christ.
Comments