The Daily Word of Righteousness

Clearing the Conscience of the Worshiper, #9

Because 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."  Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."  (Hebrews 10:14-17)

Notice very carefully the above passage. Christ by one sacrifice has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit testifies to us about this, that is, about Christ making perfect forever those who are being made holy.

What does the Holy Spirit say about this? He says two things:

First, God will issue to them a new covenant by putting His laws in their hearts and writing them on their minds.

Second, God will no longer remember their sins and lawless acts.

Carefully observe that the first aspect of our being made perfect forever is the writing of God's eternal moral laws in our hearts and minds in our hearts so we will want to obey them and in our minds so we understand them.

This is an act of moral transformation that the Holy Spirit performs as we live each moment according to the law of the Spirit of life, turning aside from our sinful nature.

If we are being made holy in this manner, our sins and lawless acts are not remembered against us. The problem with today's Christian preaching is the concept that God no longer remembers our sins and lawless acts whether or not we experience the moral transformation of the writing of His laws in our hearts and minds.

I have never heard one sermon on the writing of God's laws in our hearts and minds. Have you? Why is this, when such writing is the core of the new covenant?

The eternal moral law of God is written in our personality as each day we abide in Christ; each day we through the Spirit put to death the works of the sinful nature; each day we experience the sufferings of Christ; each day we live in His resurrection Life; each day we commit our way to the Lord, refusing to follow our own ambitions. As we serve the Lord faithfully in this manner, Christ is formed in us, which is to say, the eternal Law of God is written in our mind and heart.

We usually state that the Law of Moses has been done away with. We do not often maintain that the law of God, although not in the same form as the Law of Moses, has not been done away with but has been lifted from the stone slabs and has been transferred into our hearts and minds. Quite a difference!

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, But only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (Hebrews 10:26,27)

Can you see clearly that if the superiority of the new covenant lies in the fact that it offers an eternal forgiveness independently of our behavior, then the passage above makes no sense? How do Christian teachers and preachers explain Hebrews 10:26,27? Why not ask around and see what they have to say about this?

To be continued.