Eternal Redemption (Article 7 of 14) In Hebrews Chapter 10, the Apostle Paul continues to speak concerning the Old Covenant Law. Hebrews 10:1-4 (1) âFor the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which were offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. (2) For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once purged should have no more consciousness of sin. (3) But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. (4) For it is not possible that the blood of bull and of goats should take away sins.â Its stated very plainly here that the Law was just a shadow of good things to come and wasnt the reality of those good things, the good thing being that God was going to make all who would be Born Again to be perfect and redeemed in their spirit man, which the Law couldnt and wasnt intended to do. If the Old Covenant sacrifices could make men perfect, why would they not have ceased to be offered once perfection was manifested? The truth is that the Old Covenant Law couldnt make men perfect and that God had a New Covenant to establish with men in which there would be one final sacrifice, Christ our Lord, to actually take away and purge the sins, guilt, and shame of the world (John 1:29). This is a literal purging of the guilt and shame associated with sin. The Born Again, New Covenant Church should have no more consciousness of sin. Whereas the Old Covenant Law acted as a constant remembrance of sin, the New Covenant of Gods Grace through Faith in what Jesus has already done, has completely purged our consciousness of all guilt and all shame associated with the sins we have committed and continue to commit. It wasnt, isnt, and never will be, possible for the Old Covenant Sacrifices to take away the sins of mankind. The Law wasnt designed to take away sins but to be a constant and continual reminder of how sinful men were and still are, and how in need of a Savior we all are. Romans 8:1 says that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus and walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh. Sin was the only thing which the devil could use to condemn us and sin has been rendered a non-issue now as it has been purged from the conscious of every Born Again Believer...IF...we allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in our lives. And âIFâ we are continually renewing our minds to the Word of God. And some say, âWell what do you mean by that? I have been Born Again and I am still conscious of my sins.â Thats only because you didnt know any better until now. So begin renewing you mind (Romans 12:2) to the Word of God and you too will experience the total purging of guilt and shame as all who are truly following after the Spirit have already. I should mention also that the renewing of our minds to the Word of God isnt just a one time thing we do and then its done forever. We must renew our minds on a daily basis in order for it to be effective in our lives (Romans 12:2). The word, renew(ing), translated from the original Greek, means - a renewal, renovation, complete change for the better. In renewing our minds to Gods Word, we literally renovate our lives for the better. If we fail to keep our minds renewed to the Word, we then also will stop being what Romans 12:2 calls transformed. The word, transformed, then interprets to mean - to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure. Christs appearance was changed and was resplendent with divine brightness on the mount of transfiguration. This, to a lesser degree, is what takes place in the Born Again Believer who is constantly being transformed and renewed by the Word of God. I may have gotten a bit off topic with all of this, but it does play into the receiving and maintaining of our eternal redemption. In fact, renewing our minds to the Word and being transformed thereby is a process which all true believers should engage in on a daily basis. But then, thats just my opinion. Verses 5 and 6 go on to express how God doesnt and never did have any pleasure in the burnt offerings and sacrifices of the Old Covenant Law, and again in verse 8. Verse 10 then says that we, the New Covenant Church, are sanctified through the offering of the flesh body of Jesus Christ, once, for all. The word, all, in this verse literally means âallâ. That is, all time, all sin, and all people. Further, it also includes past, present, and future sins (all time includes future). The totality of mankind, past, present, and future, has been redeemed from the Old Covenant Law of Sin and Death. Verses 15-18 tell us all about the New Covenant which God has now established with men in that He says â...their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.â If God has established that He doesnt want to remember our sins and iniquities any longer, why are we constantly reminding Him of them? How so? By going to Him and praying as though were condemned and defeated, i.e., âOh God have mercy upon me, a sinner...â. God has already expressed His mercy toward us in that He sent Jesus to die for us, while we were still sinners. God has chosen to both forgive and forget our sins but we seem to have a problem with the âforgetâ part of this as we are continually reminding God of how sinful we are instead of accepting the righteousness, Holiness, and blamelessness God has given to us in His Grace. The fact that we seem to have a difficult time forgetting our sins and instead being sin conscious, creates what I call an opposite parallel. In the Old Covenant it was God who was reminding men of their sins when men tended to be self-righteous and in the New Covenant God wishes to forget our sins (Hebrews 8:12 & 10:17) and its now men who constantly remind God of our sins. I believe that were like this because its within our fallen, natural man, to oppose God. Even when we think were living according to His will, we come to find that were actually opposing Him. It amazes me that it seems to be so ânaturalâ for us to be doing and living exactly the opposite as God has ordained us to. It seems to be instinctive and a lot of it has to do with what I mentioned earlier and that is the fact that many of us arent renewing our minds to the Word of God as much as we should. Therefore were also not being transformed into the image of Christ as we should. Because we arent being transformed in this manner, we tend to then retain a lot of our old thoughts and mental patterns which lead us back into the condemnation and error we lived in when we were yet unsaved. This constant reminding, or remembrance, of sin is an Old Covenant mentality which the Law established in the constant sacrifices it offered (Hebrews 10:3). This is why God never had any pleasure in those sacrifices, as Gods ultimate plan in the New Covenant, was to forgive, take away, and no longer remember the sin and iniquity of men. Verse 18 then concludes by saying that when payment, or remission, which was Jesus, has been made for our sins, there is no more need to offer a sacrifice for the same. And yet we go on trying to make our own sacrifices to earn Gods forgiveness and favor by doing what some in the church today call Penance. This sort of self-sacrifice and self-mortification has already been accomplished by the one and only sacrifice of Jesus and there is no need for anyone to be doing these things to make God forgive us. Jesus has already been mortified for us. We were already forgiven 2000 years ago so how is it that we constantly seek to be forgiven again and we even want to try to earn His forgiveness with things like doing Penance? None of us has stopped sinning since the day we came of age so how can we ever think that God took back His forgiveness for us? If you are still asking Him to forgive you, then you must believe that at some point over the last 2000 years since Jesus paid for our sins, that God took back His forgiveness. So in the light of what God has already accomplished through Jesus, does continually attempting to make our sin right before God, ourselves, make sense? Jesus attained forgiveness for us, once and for all, with His blood and also gave us an eternal redemption. Every Born Again Believer is, in stark spiritual reality, eternally redeemed from sin and death in our spirit man. The key word here is the word eternal. If its eternal then once you receive it your redemption doesnt stop. It keeps on flowing out to you, into you, and out of you, because its eternal. Given that this is the case, why are so many of us continually asking God to forgive us? He already has! Just use the faith which He also gave us, acknowledge and receive that forgiveness/redemption out of the abundance of His Grace wherein we stand, and be thankful toward our God for it. A Born Again Believer isnt supposed to be a beggar before the Throne of God. We are told to come boldly before His throne to receive what His Grace has provided for us (Hebrews 4:16) when we are in need. Mankind was and still is in desperate need of a Savior and its by coming boldly to God our Father through Christ Jesus that we receive our Savior, and our forgiveness/redemption out of the infinite mercies provided in His Grace.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 10:14:32 +0000
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