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March 17, 2001 by Rose Murdock At Christmas we celebrate Jesus’ coming to the Earth. Christmas is the hope of a promise being fulfilled. It’s light at the end of the tunnel. But it’s not the end of the tunnel yet. The end of the tunnel is when Jesus rose victoriously from the grave having conquered sin, death and the devil! For those who have the hope of freedom from sin, the hope of being able to live a life pleasing to God and the hope of victory and deliverance from those things that bind them His resurrection is the fulfillment of that hope. Jesus came to fulfil that hope in the hearts of mankind. The religious leaders during Jesus’ time on Earth gave the appearance that they had that hope. But if they really had the desire in their heart to live free from sin and to live pleasing to God they would have recognized their Deliverer. Deliverance comes to a heart that is desperate for it! "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Hebrews 10:16-17 NKJThis is a great promise to those who desire to please God. To those who desperately want to know the heartbeat of God this is an answer to the cry of their heart. And the promise wasn’t fulfilled at His birth but at His resurrection. For the fact that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead is proof that all our sins and iniquities are forgiven! If they weren’t then Jesus couldn’t have been resurrected. He died because of our sin not His. So He was resurrected because our sin was forgiven. The price was paid. If there is still a price to be paid for our sin then Jesus would still be in the grave. But there is not. The price is paid in full. This is why it says in Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead you will be saved. To believe that God raised Jesus from the dead is to believe that our sins are forgiven. It’s to believe that Jesus died because of our sin, taking our place and that His resurrection is proof that our sin is forgiven! There is no more offering for sin needed. Before Jesus died they had to offer up animal sacrifices for the remission of sins. There has to be shedding of blood for sins to be forgiven. Every year the high priest had to go into the Holy of Holies—the place where God’s presence was—and offer up sacrifices for the sins of the people. Every year this was done. So every year there was a reminder that their sins needed to be forgiven. But, the blood of Jesus Christ is much more powerful than the blood of animals. Because of the shedding of Jesus’ blood there is no need for sacrifices to be made any more! And not only that but His blood purges our consciences. "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9:13-14 NKJOur consciences are purged from dead works by the blood of Jesus. It’s not about doing all those dead works—works to pay for the sins of the past. It’s about living a resurrected life with Jesus Christ and looking to the future. Looking to the plans He has for us and fulfilling those plans. We don’t need to keep paying for the past. We are free to live for today and for the future. It’s kind of like credit cards. When you owe on a credit card you’re paying for your past. You’re paying for those things you’ve already done; places you’ve already been to, furniture you’ve already bought, books you’ve already read, clothes you’ve already wore... that debt is like our past sins. But Jesus wiped out our debt. We no longer have to work to pay for our past and try to do all these things to earn our freedom—our right-standing with God. Now we are free to live for the future. We can accomplish what God wants because our debt of sin is not holding us to the past! Jesus is risen! The debt is paid! We are free! We have a new covenant with God!! "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkles from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:19-22 NKJWe can boldly enter the holy place where God dwells by the blood of Jesus. Our consciences are washed pure by His blood. If you notice, once you receive what Jesus has done for you sin isn’t enjoyable like it used to be. This is because you have a new heart. You have a cleansed conscience (Although if you persist in sin you will eventually harden your heart again. See Hebrews 10:26-29). Jesus’ resurrection is proof that in God’s mind the price for our sin is paid for. But just as with the credit cards we have to write the check to pay them off. God may have made the deposit into our account but we have to write the check. And we do that by confessing His Lordship in our lives and believing in our heart that He paid for our sin and that the price He paid was enough. Our part now is to believe in Him and to believe that risen means forgiven!
Go to the crossword for this teaching
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