Do You Really Believe?

Hebrews 10:16-25

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” (Hebrews 10:16-18)

On the basis of Chris’s death, our sins have been forgiven and erased, not just pushed back. Because they are gone, there is no further need for sacrifices for sin. God has established an attitude of righteousness, a new spirit in us, giving us a new nature, making the old nature dead. The old sins have been crucified. We are a new creature. There is no sin to offer sacrifices for.

We are clean to go directly into the presence of God with only a washing off of what has gotten dirty from contact with the world. In the tabernacle, the brazen laver stood between the Brazen altar and the priests, were to wash of any accumulated dirt befor entering the tabernacle proper. Jesus illustrates what is needed in John 13:8-10. “Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.”

Just taking care of the day to day contamination is all that is needed. The blood of Christ has already taken care of everything else. We are free to come freely to God.

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)

We have been cleansed of our sin by the blood of Christ. He is serving as our advocate before God, making us acceptable so he adopted us as beloved children. Ephesians 1:5-6 explains, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

If we really believe this, we need to act on that belief. Just as a person can believe a chair is available for him, and strong enough to hold him, it still doesn’t allow him to rest until he sits on it. It doesn’t affect the chair’s ability, only the person’s benefit. So often we hear “God said it, I believed it, That settled it.” Paul said our belief is irrelevant as to whether God’s word is true in II Timothy 2:13. “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:23-25)

If we genuinely believe what God has promised, we need to encourage each other to keep on serving the Lord. In particular, assemble together. The word translated church, “ekklesia” means assembly. One who does not assemble with others is not part of the church. We need to meet to encourage each other. Failure to do so is deliberate disobedience, implying that we really don‘t believe. While many say they can Worship God just as well out on the river bank, They are disobeying him by going. It is a deliberate refusal to help others. As time goes by, that responsibility will increase.