December 19 - Hebrews 8:1-10:39

Good morning everyone.

Hebrews 10:14-16, “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “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.”

I love this! After Jesus died on the cross, cleansed us with His blood to make us perfect in God’s sight, He did not just leave it at that. Oh no! He left the Holy Spirit here on earth to progressively help make us holy so that we would be set apart for His special work. By no means is God finished with any of us, we all still need to grow in Him. How quickly we grow in Christ depends on each person individually. We can stimulate our growth process, our sanctification, by deliberately applying God’s Word to all areas of our lives. By recognizing when we are being disciplined, correct our behavior and heed to His guidance. By giving God total control of our lives. That seems simple enough, right? Well maybe not but He has put His laws in our hearts and written them on our minds, we should all “listen up” and choose to obey. 

Verse 17 says, “Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Dude, (yes, I said that … sorry) that is such a powerful statement! Once we ask for forgiveness, God will never, ever remember that sin. Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Friends, this is great stuff! "East" is the direction from which the sun rises. No matter how far you go east you will still be facing toward the rising sun, the next time it rises. East never meets west.

North and south are different. Everything on the globe is north of the south pole, and vice versa. So yes, if you travel south to the south pole and keep going, you will then be heading north. That's because "heading north" and "heading south" are defined as "toward the north pole" and "toward the south pole." But since there are no west or east poles you will forever walk east. Awesome! As Christians we can be confident that the sins we confess are forgiven and forgotten forever and ever. 

Therefore, we should not harbor, sit on, wallow in, fret over, feel guilty about, or think on, any sin we have given over to God. Got it!? God Himself does not remember your sins, so why should you? He felt it was best to forget them, so honor Him and let them go. Whatever it is God has forgiven and forgot, you should too! I can’t say it enough. Some of you may have a rubuttle sounding a bit like, “Yea, but mine is so much worse because ___, God can not forget that.” To which I would reply, “If that’s what you think then you are calling God a liar and God does not lie! So stop it and believe Him.” God wants us to forgive ourselves and allow Jesus' blood to wash clean our conscience from all the evil we have done! Hebrews 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” God made us new creations because He didn’t want our pasts to be a part of us anymore. I earnestly encourage you to let it happen! Let us all purpose to live with the firm belief we are forgiven and all our sins are forgotten. Lift your head up and know, you are forgiven because He was forsaken. Amen?

Have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all…..