Freedom For Today

“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. For we know the one who said,

‘I will take revenge.
    I will pay them back.’

He also said,

‘The Lord will judge his own people.’

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Proverbs 9:10 says, “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.” Today’s passage reminds me of that verse because we often fail to maintain a healthy fear of God. It is certainly a privilege that God has chosen to call us “friend” (John 15:15), but when we take that for granted we diminish the reality of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. “Friend” didn’t come for free.

In light of Jesus’ sacrifice, why would we want to keep on sinning deliberately? Romans 6:1-3 says, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” Grace is a gift that we cannot take for granted.

Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Sin harms you, robs you, entangles you, and owns you. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that you could keep on living like that. He died and then conquered death to give you a way out. He died to set you free. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be in the hands of God on judgment day if I have spent my life knowing the freedom of Jesus while doing whatever I want regardless of God’s standards. If you think that sinning means getting to do whatever you want while following Jesus means living by a bunch of rules, you don’t understand the Gospel. God’s ways bring freedom, and sin will always disappoint. Are you living a spiritually free life today, or are you ignoring God for a while to do your own thing? I guarantee that “doing your own thing” is simply letting Satan own you just a little longer. Get out now!

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

A lot of insight is packed into just a few verses, so today’s passage is shorter than some days. I love versus that start with “Let us…” because they are inspirational. What does it mean to live out the Christian life? All the verses with “Let us…” give us the answers. First, “let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm.” I don’t know about you, but when circumstances look bleak I waver. Is God really good? Can I really trust him? Those heart questions go all the way back to Eve in the Garden of Eden, and it was the open door that allowed Satan to work his way into that situation and bring sin into the world.

Second, “let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” I love this one! It’s a call to creativity — think of ways. There are endless possibilities to motivate each other and there are countless options for loving and doing good works. Every culture and time in history gets to do what works for them. Finally, “let us not neglect our meeting together.” This is hard sometimes, and some of us never imagined that we could face a global pandemic that could halt our church services. We’ve still found ways to honor this verse, but I think we can do more.

The key reason we get together is to help each other hold on to the truth of the Gospel. It’s so easy to forget who Jesus is and what he has done. After a while in isolation, it’s easy to think, “Why does any of this matter anyway?” Verse 25 gives us a key instruction: encourage one another. We gather because we need to encourage and to be encouraged. In times of crisis when getting together in person is hard, we have to get creative about how we encourage each other. What’s one way you can creatively encourage someone today?

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

What does it mean to boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place? The first thing that comes to my mind is the intro to Star Trek: boldly go where no one has gone before! There’s something daring about the idea of boldly walking into a place. The thing about heaven is that someone HAS gone before us — Jesus! It’s only because of him that we are able to boldly speak to God. Very few people in the Old Testament could speak to God, and even some of the most direct encounters (like Moses on a few occasions) required him to cover his face.

As today’s passage says, we can go right into the presence of God. The problem? We don’t make use of this privilege often enough. What does it mean for you to be in the presence of God? These verses say that such an encounter is connected to a sincere heart that fully trusts God. We are no longer trapped in shame and guilt and we deeply trust God to have total control of our lives. We are free.

Why do people avoid spending time in God’s presence if we have such a privilege? Often in my work as a counselor I see that people avoid God a specific reason: they do not trust him. There are areas that we don’t always want God to touch. Boldly entering his presence with a sincere heart full of trust is actually pretty hard. We have to open our hands, release control, deal with the stuff that’s in our heart and in the way. But it’s the most free place to be, and you don’t have to fix yourself first. You simply choose to be with him and slowly open your heart to him. That might not sound bold, but it takes great courage. You’ve got all of eternity to deepen your trust in him. Take time today to be in his presence on that journey.

“Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,

‘This is the new covenant I will make
    with my people on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
    and I will write them on their minds.’

Then he says,

‘I will never again remember
    their sins and lawless deeds.’

And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.”

In chapter 8 the author of Hebrews referenced Jeremiah 31, and this reference is repeated here in today’s passage. Why would the author keep going over and over the same points? It might be tempting to start skimming, thinking that these points have now been driven home for several chapters. However, imagine that this letter was designed to be read aloud and delivered as a sermon (which it most likely was). A sermon often has a circling back or repetitive style because listening to the whole thing at once is very different from dissecting it verse by verse as we are doing here. To replicate the early audience’s experience, you could listen to all of Hebrews in one sitting in the Bible app (YouVersion). I suggest using either the New Living Translation or The Message versions for that purpose.

Let’s focus on the last verse in today’s passage, which stands out from the rest of the verses that are similar to what we have already read. “When sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.” Rationally, you may be able to comprehend that idea. Okay, new system, Jesus, perfect priest/sacrifice, got it. But let’s soak into our hearts the idea that our sins are forgiven in a permanent and enduring way. There is so much freedom in that reality. What used to be a heavy burden has now been lifted.

In America, we are often fiercely independent. We fight for what we want and look out for ourselves. In the end, that only gets us so far. Depending on myself has significant limits. What if you didn’t have to depend on yourself for everything? What if you couldn’t depend on yourself for everything? The spiritual reality is that you cannot depend on yourself. You will never get to God that way. If you have accepted Jesus to be the Savior and leader of your life, you’ve been forgiven and there is no need for you to keep proving yourself to him. You can’t earn it. You can’t get it. You can only accept it. And that is what true freedom is all about.

“For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God,

‘You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
    But you have given me a body to offer.
You were not pleased with burnt offerings
    or other offerings for sin.’
Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
    as is written about me in the Scriptures.’

First, Christ said, ‘You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them’ (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will.’ He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.”

We have talked at length about how the old system of animal sacrifice was replace by a new covenant with God as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice of himself on the cross. Today’s verses point us towards the heart of God. What does he want from his people? While he had given them an earthly, tangible way to pay for their sins, God was never really interested in these offerings. Throughout the Old Testament, God had already made this clear. Those who were paying attention to God’s heart had no question about Jesus’ identity as the Savior, or Messiah. Those who focused on the law missed it completely.

So what exactly does God want? Micah 6:6-8 gives us the answer:

“What can we bring to the Lord?
    Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
    with offerings of yearling calves?
Should we offer him thousands of rams
    and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
    to pay for our sins?

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
    and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
    and to walk humbly with your God.”

Many people claim the label “Christian,” and for many that means they follow some cultural traditions that are historically rooted in the Christian church. Deliberately following Jesus means looking beyond these traditions to understand the heart behind them. Don’t give an offering just to hear some change clink in the plate. Do the right thing in your life. Find someone to whom you can show mercy. Walk around with deep humility that assumes you are not always right. Jesus was the once-for-all sacrifice in order to give you freedom. Use today to live that freedom by sacrificing your pride and your comfort to him.