One Of Many Options

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?" - Hebrews 10:24-29 ESV

A very sobering and misunderstood passage.

Hebrews was written to a specific group of people split into two categories. It was written to the believers living in Jerusalem who were mostly Jewish people and under incredible pressure to forsake the practices of believing in Messiah and return to a lifestyle they lived before. That was one group, the believers, the other was the people who had not received Christ yet but were influenced by the believers that were there but were not converted themselves yet.

The believers really needed each other. They needs to be reminded daily of the provision they had and what Jesus had done for them because many options were put before them. Faith in the finished work was only one of them and one that had uncomfortable results if pursued. The sacrifice for sins had been paid for by Christ but sacrifices were still going on in the temple and there was pressure to participate... social, economic and psychological pressure.

The finished work presents us with the only true sacrifice for sins. Jesus died, was buried and rose again. He is now ascended into Heaven and sits on a throne never to die again and never to pay for sin again. They need no other payment made for them.

If we forgo the option of believing that and relying on that things get complicated. Fear has an entrance. Unsaved people are suppressing fear all the time... fear of death... fear of judgement... it can be so subtle that they aren't even aware that that is what is motivating them.

Fear is waiting to enter back into our lives if it is given a place. Denial of the finished work theologically or practically gives a place for the fear of an already averted judgement to enter back in. The soul can have an unconscious expectation of doom poisoning the water table that feed their production. Meanwhile there is fresh water that God wants to rain down on them.

It is finished even if we don't know that it is. God is for us even if we don't know that He is.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." - John 3:16-21 ESV

John 3:16 is one of the most quoted versed in the Bible but the verses that come afterwards are very telling also aren't they?

People live condemning themselves on some level unless they are reminded of the only provision there is for condemnation... The Cross of Christ.

If we have an understanding of grace we don't need to hide our actions anymore. We have a way to deal with the pressures of life and the consequences of decisions made. Jesus is a Savior... a rescuer. If you run from Him you can never escape His influence but you will also not escape the sense of doom that will creep into your heart. His light banishes darkness... no other light has that power.

You don't need to chase God down. Just let Him catch you with this truth. The work of salvation is finished. Sins past, present and future are paid for already. You can rest because that truth gives us a shelter to rest under.

You may be reading this as a trapped person... trapped by decisions... trapped by addictions... trapped. The value of the blood of Christ is the way to freedom. The once and for all payment for sin and sins is a well spring of comfort and relief. If you have never received Christ as your Savior then believe on Him and let Him in. Once you do He will never leave or forsake you. If you have Him then let Him minister to you what He has already done.

God has other people for you to be with. The friend with a six pack in his truck may still roll up at your door. Lust is still waiting out there on the internet. Compromise still may seem like the best option at work. You need someone else to call. Some one who will remind you that it is finished. If you have that truth in you by any means necessary (books, messages, people, etc...) you can make it and nothing will have lasting power over you. The anointing breaks the yoke of bondage.

There is only one provision. Don't overlook it. Take it because God wants you to have it.

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