My thoughts on Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All!!!
1) We have received a great power, the Holy Spirit, when we have accepted Jesus as Lord, Savior and master of our lives.
2) Because of this great power, we have a great responsibilty to change EVERYTHING about ourselves.
Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All!!!
Hebrews 10: 26 – 31 (English Standard Version)
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The scripture above scares me. Yet, it doesn’t stand alone! There are more scriptures like this one found in 1 Corinthians 2 and 1 Corinthians 3.
So, as a Christ follower, what am I to do with these scriptures? What are they saying to me?
Was I not “good to go” in terms of going to Heaven by virtue of knowing Christ as savior? Am I not the model Cristian by going to church and Sunday school every week, paying my tithe, belong to fellowship and reunion groups and doing missionary work whenever possible? Do I not do what God wants of me by providing for my family, working hard, helping my childen and loving and treating my wife as best as I can?
So, why worry or be concerned?
Well, there are some more verses. These are in Ephesians 2, which state the following:
Ephesians 2
By Grace Through Faith
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
WOW! And if this verse doesn’t convict me and let me know that I am a fool everytime that I spew out self pride and boast about my own accomplishments, there’s a verse where God just drop kicks me into the reality of how great He is and how small I am. The verse is found in 1 Corinthians 1. Here it is:
1 Corinthians 1: 18 – 31
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
”I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
So, what should I do with all this information that God has put infront of me with His word?
Anyone out there?!
Please, let me know your take on all of this. I ask you to pray first before responding. Pray for yourself, especially if anything here has spoken to you. Pray, if you know Jesus, that God may lead you and transform you though His word and spirit in a mighty way! If you don’t know Jesus, I pray that you would release your doubts and come to know Him. If you’ve been seeking God, I pray that you find what you’ve been seeking right now and accept who Jesus is. Also pray for me, the sinner that I am, to become the person that God wants me to be and NOT to continue to be the person that I am.
I pray that God will reveal more of his message, so that you and I can do His will here on earth, just as it is done in Heaven. Peace, Carlos
