Dear Student of the Word,
I have been working on the attached lesson for weeks, but just could not find the time to finish. Today I finally did and I was reminded again how much I enjoy preparing these studies and how much I enjoy the letter to the Hebrews. Today we enter into the part of the letter (which some believe is a transcribed spoken message) where the writer continued his passionate appeal to believing Jews who were considering going back to Judaism and its rituals not to do so. While looking at that and other issues, I wrote what's below in day six of this seven-day study:
Study Seven, Day Six
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 "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." 17 Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." 18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
10:15 – The writers of this letter had no problem recognizing that the Holy Spirit speaks to men. In this verse the writer stated, “First he says.” The ‘he’ refers to the Spirit. I cannot quite understand the debate on whether or not the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God. While we must acknowledge that there are probably some minor errors in the manuscripts that have been handed down to us for millennia, there can be no room for a believer to deny that the Scriptures are the work and word of God. The same God who inspired the Scriptures has preserved the Scriptures in the form that we have today.
A book entitled The Scripture Principle by Clark Pinnock includes more about the debate that has been going on between those who believe the Bible to be God’s word and those who believe it to be a book about God, but a collection of myths and human stories that only amount to interesting reading with limited instructive possibilities.
10:16 – The writer quoted Jeremiah 31:33-34 in this verse and acknowledged that the Holy Spirit was speaking to Jeremiah. This new covenant was not the idea of men but an institution from God. No one, therefore, can change it. The new covenant transitioned from a covenant with external effects to one that worked on the internal or the heart. The old covenant could not change men’s hearts; it could only convince them that their heart needed help in order to serve God.
10:17 – Some people agonize over their sins and whether or not they are truly forgiven. But forgiveness of our sins isn’t based on anything any human can do (except ask for it). Forgiveness is part of the new covenant and the new promise of God. Forgiveness of your sins is based on God’s promise, and doesn’t depend on the magnitude or quantity of your sins.
You can go to God for forgiveness and He will extend it because of His promise in the new covenant. Are you struggling whether or not you are forgiven? Are you concerned that your sins are too grievous for God to forgive or forget? Well, you can rest today, for God’s promise and His covenant to you is that He will remember your sins no more. Ask for forgiveness and leave your sins with Him. If He forgets them, why can’t you? Are you holier or more righteous than God?
10:18 – Once God has forgotten your sin, you would do well not to mention it to Him again. There is no need to apply the sacrifice of Jesus to your sins any longer; once is enough. Not only was this a more righteous system in Christ than the Law provided, it was a more efficient system! Jesus paid the price once and for all so that our sins could be forgiven.
That is why sinful people felt so comfortable being with Him when He walked the earth. Since He is the same today as He was then, sinners like you and me should feel just as comfortable. Remember what John wrote:
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives (1 John 1:5-10).
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the unpublished daily devotional entitled What Would Jesus Ask You Today? Thank you and I hope you continue to enjoy this study of Hebrews from God's word.
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