Devotional Day 24

Scripture

Hebrews 10:15-31

15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”  17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”  18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”  and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”  31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Devotional

We talked in yesterday’s devotional about how the early church lived in the fear of the Lord, well this teaching from Hebrews is exactly what they would have heard from the Apostles. It’s like we get a little insight into the sermon’s from that time - it makes sense why they were such a fiery, and holy people doesn’t it! The 10th chapter of Hebrews is one of the most powerful, potent and intense passages in scripture. It has the full spectrum of the gospel within it; on the one hand the absolute sufficiency of the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from our sin - and on the other a very sharp warning not to treat the sacrifice of Jesus incorrectly by engaging in deliberate sin. Because of this, I find that this passage is one of the most helpful ones when it comes to experiencing the fear of the Lord.

First of all, we are encouraged with a promise from the Holy Spirit - that in this new covenant with Jesus, the Spirit will write his laws on our hearts and minds, forget our sins and remind us of the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ for our redemption. Sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. It is finished! Then because of all of this wonderful work the Lord has done on our behalf, we can boldly enter into the throne room - the deepest, most glorious place of God’s presence, with confidence! We are encouraged that our hearts can now be sprinkled clean by the blood of Jesus to even cleanse our guilty consciences, and be washed with pure water. Wow! What Jesus has done for us, and the wonderful experience of being in relationship with the Father that we can now have because of him is completely mind bending.

It’s within this context, we are warned. If we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of that truth, the only thing we can expect is to experience the punishment that is reserved for the enemies for God. The reason for this is that with our disregard for the sacrifice of Jesus, we have chosen to be enemies of the Lord. I think this is a warning to those who treat the cross as a mere ticket to heaven, and a hall pass for sin. Unfortunately there are so many ‘christians’ today who do not love the Lord at all, and are deceived into thinking that God does not have a problem with this. Justifying their sin, with their worldly pursuits and passions as their god they trample underfoot our precious Lord, treat his blood with contempt and enrage the Spirit of grace. Gosh, it’s so sad - and I see it all too often. Even if this is not us, and we genuinely do love God and repent when we fall into sin - then we should still read this with holy fear and trembling, as we take comfort in the first part of the passage, that we are forgiven. It shows us that God takes sin seriously, and we should never gloss over how it impacts our relationship with our precious Lord Jesus, who lovingly and selflessly gave his life, paying for the consequences of our sin.

A healthy and mature Christian is able to hold this whole passage all at once, thinking both:

‘Wow - I can’t even begin to imagine how much God loves me to give me access to himself like that, and wow - I’m blown away by how well God treats me, cleansing me and letting me be in his glorious presence with confidence, because of what Jesus did for me’.

And holding that in tension with

‘Oh man, I so value Jesus and what he has done for me, and that he is a pure and holy God who has given his life to free me from sin, I dare not gloss over my sin, but pray diligently for the Spirit to help me resist temptation and then I will resist it. But even if I do sin, I will bring a broken and contrite heart to the Lord, which he will never despise’.

Allowing the word of God to renew your mind and sink into your heart will bring an increase in the fear of the Lord into your life.

Prayer

Lord, I hold the truths of the gospel with holy fear and trembling today - what I am reading in your word is so precious, the full extent of what you have done for me is beyond human comprehension. Jesus, thank you for the cross. Thank You for bearing the punishment for my sin, and enduring the pain and the shame for me. I’m sorry that I’ve not treated what you’ve done for me with enough reverence, and I ask for an increase in spiritual awareness that I might better comprehend the full spectrum of the gospel, both the beauty of what you’ve done and the weight of sin.