Lawton Church of God

Lawton Church of God We are a SMALL church with a BIG HEART--there is room for you in it!

09/06/2026

GET UP AND GO HOME
Matthew 9:2–8 (NASB); (Mark 2:5–9; Luke 5:17–24)

And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” And he got up and went home. But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Up until this time in the ministry of Jesus, people thought of him as a great teacher and a worker of miracles. Jesus certainly wanted people to listen to him because he had much to tell them about the kingdom of God and how it affects their lives. Jesus did miracles for at least two reasons: (1) to help people with serious needs and (2) to demonstrate the power of God in him that would lend credibility to what he taught. It was now time that he showed the people that he came to do much more than just teach and work miracles: he came to forgive sins.

Four men had a dear friend that was paralyzed; they heard that Jesus could heal people, so they brought their friend to Jesus to be healed. The man was healed and able to get up, pick up his bed and walk home. This time, Jesus did something more than just heal a paralyzed body—he forgave the man’s sins; something that he had not done before. The scribes had been somewhat offended at the teaching of Jesus up to this point in time. They were the teachers in the synagogues, and their style of teaching was somewhat ambiguous. Jesus had astounded the people by being straight forward and very clear in his teachings. The people liked that and the scribes were becoming jealous. When Jesus forgave the man his sins, the scribes immediately objected among themselves; perhaps they were beginning to see a way to discredit Jesus—he blasphemes. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Luke 5:21)

We don’t think it remarkable that Jesus forgives sin, but there is something in this story that always is overlooked—and it speaks to the church and our role in people finding forgiveness and being brought into a right relationship with God. Notice first that it was the men who brought their friend to Jesus. As the man could not walk to Jesus under his own power, sinners seldom come to Jesus on their own; they have to be brought. Jesus saw THEIR faith; it was the faith the men had in Jesus that compelled them to bring their friend. Nothing is said that the man asked them to bring him, or even that he wanted to go to Jesus. We don’t read anything about the man being under conviction or repenting, we just hear Jesus telling him his sins are forgiven. But catch the connection here—Jesus saw THEIR FAITH and told the man YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN.

There is perhaps much that is not mentioned in the text that actually was said but it still comes down to this: our faith in Jesus can do much to bring sinners to salvation. We understand that people have to repent, i.e. give up sin, for their sins to be forgiven. But if our faith is strong and effective, as was the faith of these men, that can materially help a sinner, a seeker, to believe that Jesus will save them. So, we learn that in a very real sense, faith IS contagious. People don’t get it against their will but our living our faith can help to move their will to repent and seek salvation.

The first thing we learn from this lesson is that our faith can help others to have faith for their salvation, or to find God’s help for any need they have.

This event also teaches us that Jesus IS God, he is divine. We know this because, as the scribes said, “we know that God alone can forgive sins.” It would be one thing for a man to tell another person, “Your sins are forgiven.” This happens every time a Roman Catholic goes to confession. But no man, no preacher can forgive sins. A person might walk away thinking his sins are forgiven just because a man says so, but what proof does he have?

Jesus knew what the scribes were thinking about this, so he purposely set them up: “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? Obviously, it is easier to say your sins are forgiven because you don’t have to prove anything. Jesus went the extra step—he actually healed the man. Because he healed the man it proved that he has authority to actually forgive sins. “So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He proved his authority to forgive sins by healing the man. We know that Jesus forgives our sins.

Getting back to the attitude of the scribes, we learn something about the ungodly that is very much true today. As religious as these scribes were, they were ungodly; they were more closely aligned with the world than with God. Because they were people of the world, they hated Jesus and wanted to discredit him. As we read further in the gospels, we see that the more Jesus demonstrated that he is God the more they hated him. It is still true today. The more that Jesus demonstrates that he his God, the more the world hates him. We see this in the attacks the secular faction in our government has been making against the church and people of Christian faith. The United States was founded to be a nation of Christians. It is quickly becoming a secular nation that hates Christians and is dedicated to silencing us and the message of the gospel. Our secularist-statists don’t want Jesus to save people; they want to save them by dragging them into slavery.

Let’s concentrate the rest of our time on the commandment that Jesus gave in this lesson: Get up, pick up your bed and go home. From this command we learn that Jesus changes a person’s life when he saves him. After his encounter with Jesus this man was able to live a normal life: he could get up, he could pick up his bed, and he could go places. A sinner coming to Jesus and finding forgiveness is cured of the spiritual sickness that has plagued his life. With that load of guilt and sin taken off him, he can get up and begin living a new life. As the paralytic man was bound to his bed, the sinner finds himself bound by habits and behavior that keeps him held in sin. The healing of salvation breaks that bo***ge. The grace of God and the power of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit actually strengthen the person to no longer smoke; drink alcohol; look at po*******hy; lie; steal; using profanity or filthy talk—whatever was holding him down while a sinner.

Finally, go home. As a newly saved person, go out and live your life in the way God wants you to live it. The Christian life is not a life of rules and regulations; it is not a life of depriving ourselves; it is a life of obedience to the will of God. God wants you to live a normal life his way. The new life that comes with forgiveness and giving up sin will teach you a great deal about a holy life. As part of your new life, read the Bible regularly, attend church regularly, fellowship with God’s people regularly. These will be invaluable in helping you to learn God’s values and how He wants you to liv your life.

We learn these things from this command of Jesus:

Our faith in Jesus will help others to have faith in Jesus and come to him seeking salvation.

The world hates Jesus, it hates us and is not our friend.

When Jesus saves a person, he changes his life from being a sinner to a person who lives his life God’s way.

It is our responsibility as people saved from sin to live our lives in such a way that it proves to others that Jesus does forgive sins on earth.

09/03/2026

Hebrews 10:4–10
Sanctified by Christ’s Obedience

Verse 4. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

What then takes away our sins? The blood of Christ. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:17).

What then sanctifies us? We have been conditioned doctrinally to look at the two altars of the tabernacle for the answer. Brazen altar has blood on it; therefore, this is justification. The golden altar has blood on it; therefore, this is sanctification. So, we say we are sanctified by the blood of Christ. But that is not what the writer says.

Verses 5–7. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.

The writer quotes Psalm 40:6–8. While blood is important, the person speaking in the psalm says it is not good enough. Who is speaking here? Christ. He says that what is important is that he has a body and that he does God’s will in that body.

Verses 8–9. Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law), then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second.

The writer says this does away with the one covenant and establishes a new one. He takes away the Law of Moses and all of its rites. He establishes the new covenant through Christ’s obedience.

Verse 10. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

God’s will that forgiveness of sins and sanctification be more than only a ceremony. We are sanctified—set apart from sin to serve God by the offering of Christ’s body. Sanctification is made possible in the atonement once for all through the offering of the body of Christ. Yes, there is blood involved, but what really accomplishes our sanctification is the obedience of Christ to God’s will.

Implied: we must be obedient to God’s will if we have experienced sanctification.

08/30/2026

SAY NOTHING
Mark 1:40–45

Now a l***r came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.

Jesus’ command to say nothing might seem strange to us in light of the miracle of healing Jesus did for the l***r. Our wisdom tells us to advertise such an event in the newspaper or write a book giving our testimony. Such books are written today, and they sell many copies in Christian bookstores. Such testimonies do encourage some people, but they serve mostly to encourage people that are already living for God and they are of very little value in reaching those that don’t yet know God.

At the risk of making a generalization, experiencing a miracle of healing is often looked upon as a proof of “my” personal relationship with God. We get the idea that only deeply spiritual people experience these kinds of miracles. It stands to reason that if we experience a miracle, we are deeply spiritual, we are a little more special than other Christians. In other words, sometimes experiencing a miracle brings up a temptation to spiritual pride that we otherwise would not have; and that is not the end result Jesus wants for us.

You will notice that there are actually two commands in this story. They work together in helping us to be what Jesus wants us to be: (1) Be cleansed and (2) Say nothing.

The command to be cleansed is a command to active faith, rather than passive faith. Faith is always active; passive faith is just wishful thinking. The l***r had a physical need that he believed only Jesus could cure. Coming to Jesus showed some faith. Asking to be healed showed some faith. But coming and asking was not the faith that was needed for the healing.

The man knew that Jesus could heal him, but he was uncertain as to whether or not Jesus would do it for him; his problem was that he needed to know if it was Jesus’ will to heal him. There is an attitude among some Christians that prayer is a trap: we ask God for something, and he is obligated to give it to us. If we do not receive the answer we want, we either explain it away (yes, no, wait) or we give up our faith altogether. First John 5 verses 14 and 15 teach us that the correct way to pray is to find the will of God first, then ask. The answer will always be given because God always does his will. This is not a trap.

Jesus expressed his will to the man: “I am willing.” Which presents a powerful truth over which we tend to stumble—the command to “be cleansed.” The man was not capable of cleansing himself; that had to be an act of God. Jesus was telling the man to believe and trust the expression of his will and simply receive the answer he had for him. In other words, when we know what the will of God is, we are responsible to act on that knowledge. This is active faith. Notice the pattern that Jesus sets up for us for our prayers: Seek to know the will of God; when you know the will of God, ask that his will be done. Act in that faith and receive God’s answer. The man was immediately healed of leprosy because he learned that it was Jesus’ will to heal him.

Our next move would be to write a book giving our testimony of healing, but Jesus let the man know that this was not what he wanted the man to do. God set out in the Law of Moses a procedure through which a testimony of healing from leprosy MUST be given; Jesus told the man to obey that procedure. This is a solemn reminder that we must do God’s things in the way God wants them to be done. Jesus told the man not to talk about this healing but go to the temple and follow the ritual. That will give sufficient testimony to what God had done for him. This does not mean that we are not to give testimony when God blesses us in some unusual manner, but it does suggest that we are to testify in a manner God approves. If God heals us of a disease or an injury, we certainly want to express our thanks—and it is not wrong for us to express that thanks publicly. If people have been praying for our situation, it is appropriate to testify as to God’s answer so that the saints will know that God has blessed—otherwise they will continue to pray and feel concerned. Most of the time God will not have us to make a spectacle of ourselves over the matter. All this does is to make our own self the object and God’s work the sideshow. This can have a negative effect on the work of the kingdom.

We learn from this lesson that God would have us to do the right thing in secrete or known only to people who are involved in the process. God will oftentimes bless us openly, such as with this healing. The fact of the healing is not a sign that we are right with God. The secrete obedience to God is what really proves we are right with God. What is important in our relationship with God is that we know how we stand with God regardless of what anyone else might think or believe. We do not need miracles to prove that we are right with God. Our personal and private obedience will give us that assurance. We need to be actively obeying what we know of God’s will; be faithful to him and his will. A consistent holy life—victory in the secrete places—gives a far more powerful testimony of the grace of God than does an occasional miracle.

Making a public spectacle of God’s answers to prayer, miracles, has a consequence that actually works against the kingdom of God. Notice that the healed l***r did the exact opposite of what Jesus commanded; he went out and began to proclaim it freely. Instead of this act drawing people to Jesus to hear the gospel and be saved, it drew the curiosity seekers. This prevented Jesus from being able to openly work in the city; he could no longer preach the gospel of the kingdom because people were gathering in hopes of seeing another miracle.

Let us have active faith that always works in the will of God; but let’s not use the miraculous to distract people from the message of salvation from sin and holiness of life. There are times when Jesus will command us to say nothing.

Are we obeying the commands of Jesus? Are we obeying the command “Be cleansed;” that is, practicing active faith; seeking the will of God before we ask in prayer. Are we obeying the command “Say nothing;” do our obedience in secrete, in the presence of God.

08/26/2026

Hebrews 9:24–28
God’s Final Answer for Sin

Verses 24–25. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—

It is necessary that Christ is our high priest because the real atonement for sin had to be made in the real presence of God, who was offended by human sin, and not in the tabernacle that only represented God’s presence. Christ as our high priest went directly into heaven itself to atone for our sin in the very presence of God.

We know that Jesus died on a cross on the outskirts of Jerusalem and the place where he died did not look very much like heaven. However, the cross lifted him up from the surface of the earth so that on the cross he stood between God and humanity. On that cross, he was in the presence of God representing all human sin. And it was in that presence that God the Father turned his face away from Jesus causing him to cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It was that forsaking that took the place of God’s judgment on sin for everyone that would repent and place their faith in what Jesus did on that cross. So, in a sense, sin was committed by humans on earth but paid for by Jesus suspended above the earth and in the heavenly presence of God the Father.

The death of Christ for sin was a one-time offering that never has to be repeated. The high priest under the Law of Moses had to make an atonement sacrifice every year because people would continue to sin and need forgiveness. The blood of animals purchased only a ceremonial forgiveness that benefited them only in the moment it was made. As our high priest, Jesus offered himself as our sacrifice and paid the price the human race needed for real, practical forgiveness that changes the moral nature of those forgiven. That forgiveness also brought about a cleansing from sin that puts sin in the past of people’s lives and makes possible a life of holiness.

Verse 26. He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

What the writer calls the end of the ages is merely the change of dispensation from the Old Testament to the New Testament and from ceremonial salvation to real salvation. Under the Law of Moses, sacrifices for sin had to be made year after year but Christ’s coming and his death for sin put away sin. That putting away sin has two parts. First, in repenting sin and trusting Christ the punishment of eternal death for sin is taken away and our sin is pardoned. Second is the moral change made possible by the cleansing from sin so that we do not have to sin again.

V 27–28 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Physical death is a reality every person has to face but physical death does not end our existence. We are told that after death we will still be alive and have to face God’s judgment. It is this event we all have to face that is the reason why Jesus came into the world; he came to bear or to take away our sins so that we can face the judgment innocent of sin because of the atonement. If we have given him our sin and we have lived faithfully for him in life, there is nothing to fear at the judgment—our penalty for sin was paid by Jesus.

Jesus is God’s final answer to sin. The Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin and from all unrighteousness. That sounds like a complete salvation. Salvation under the Law involved making continual sacrifices that could never take away sin—if fact, those sacrifices reminded the people how sinful they really were. Why would the blood of Christ leave us in the same condition as the blood of bulls and goats as some Christians are taught to believe? Jesus put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

If we have been cleansed from all sin no sin remains in our lives and being cleansed from all unrighteousness, which is the moral cause of sin, there is no need ever to sin again. The possibility remains, but the need no longer exists.

Have you experienced the grace of God ministered by Jesus our High Priest? Are you finding that grace keeping you from sin and helping you in times of temptation? If not, you need to let Jesus show you how it is done. Jesus is God’s final answer to sin. Have you let him be your answer?

08/23/2026

BE QUIET AND COME OUT
Mark 1:25; Luke 4:35

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

The command given by Jesus in this instance was given to an unclean spirit, a demon. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” How in the world does this command apply to us individually and to the church? The people in the synagogue asked the same question: What is this? What new doctrine is this? Was this a new doctrine; something they had never seen? Jesus would have us to understand that the casting out of demons was something that was part of their religious practice. “If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?” (Luke 11:19).

What was new to them was the authority with which he taught. They were astonished at his teaching because he taught with authority. The teaching of the scribes was notoriously lacking in authority. They would refer to the teachings of the rabbis, who were often in conflict on just about any subject. The teaching of the scribes in the synagogue was most of the time very uncertain: “it could be this way; it could be that way.” Suggestions rather than clear teaching. However, let it also be said that some teaching was very straightforward and strict, but usually on matters that were of no spiritual consequence. The teaching of Jesus was plain, uncomplicated and to the point; there was no confusion as to what He meant when he spoke.

In this particular synagogue service, the teaching of Jesus was so plain and authoritative that it stirred an unclean spirit that had become part of a man’s life. This particular demon had become part of the man’s personality; it did not demonstrate itself outwardly like some other situations we read in the gospels. There was no sickness, there were no convulsions, no erratic behavior. There is no way to know the effect this demon had in this man’s life, but it was keeping him from being honest about his moral life and it was keeping him out of the Kingdom of God. The word “unclean” comes from two Greek words that put together mean not cleansed. It means impure, both in a ceremonial sense and the sense of being morally lewd. If this man were living today, he probably would be regularly looking at po*******hy on the Internet.

Something in what Jesus said at synagogue stirred this spirit so much that it actually took over the man’s voice and railed against Jesus. Notice some things that this spirit said. “Let us alone, we do not want to have any dealings with you.” They also recognized who Jesus really was—the Holy One of God. They recognized that he had the ability to destroy them. It is interesting that many times when demonic spirits are exposed, they come back with religious talk. Much of the time this religious talk is intended to hide the corruption in the person and make him/her look spiritual. Jesus did not put up with the harangue. He sternly commanded the spirit to “Be quiet and come out of him!” The spirit came out.

This relates to the church today because it is still part of God’s plan in the work of the Kingdom for the church to cast out evil spirits, demons.

Mark 16:15, 17 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. . . . And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons,” etc.

Luke 9:1 “Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.”

These disciples, the Apostles, were the seed of the church that would come into being on Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ. Some argue that these are apostolic gifts and they do not apply to the church in general. Then why did Jesus give orders to cast out demons in the great commission in Mark 16? Answer: That was for the Apostles; that order stopped when they all died. Where does the Bible say that? If that is true, that we are no longer to cast out demons, then we are no longer supposed to proclaim the kingdom of God. In the second verse of Luke 9 we see that as the disciples cast out demons and healed the sick they also were to proclaim the kingdom.

Arguing about casting out demons might just be a moot point today because no one believes in demons except for radical, extremist, ignorant, and simple-minded Christians. Today, demon possession has been explained away under the guise of mental or emotional illness, or as behavior disorders. People in New Testament times are looked upon as primitive and unscientific. This attitude of today is elitist and highly disrespectful of people that lived two thousand years ago. There were extremely brilliant minds that helped to further the knowledge base we take so much for granted. We say these people did not understand mental illness or behavior disorders and explained them as demons. The reality is that we have explained away truth and covered it over with science.

This is not to say that science is wrong or contrary to Scripture, and it by no means is intended to suggest that all mental illness and behavior disorders are demon possession. Mental illness and behavior disorders are very real and can have their basis in chemical imbalances in the brain or in traumatic experience a person suffers. But some of these things do have as their source possession by a demon. When people are unrestrained in self-oriented behaviors they are being set up for an evil spirit to feed those behaviors until they lose control of themselves.

When a person unwittingly gives himself to a demonic force, he invites into his life more than just that one spirit and the behavior it promotes. Remember the man with the legion of spirits—they were many. Notice in our text that the man had an unclean spirit, but when it spoke it called itself “us”, meaning that the primary spirit had other spirits working with it. For example, a person gives himself over to a lust spirit and he feeds on po*******hy. Along with the lust spirit there will also be a lying spirit that will deny the addiction, a deceitful spirit that will hide the addiction, and who knows what else?

God’s church must remain alert in our proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. There are spiritual needs that are much deeper than people just needing to repent and believe the gospel. We must have the power of God in our midst to discern and deliver people that are caught up with evil spirits. People will come to us with deep spiritual needs that have been explained away as mental illness or behavioral disorders. These people may be on medications that hide the real condition that exists. We must have the authority Jesus exhibited in our text so that those unclean spirits will expose themselves.

We want people with real mental, emotional, or behavioral sicknesses to be well and to follow effective medical treatment. However, we do not want people with deep spiritual needs to be coddled into a false sense of being and end up lost in eternity with the very same spirits that controlled them in this life. Jesus had authority; Jesus gave the church that same authority; he gave us a command in the great commission to cast out demons. Demons feared Jesus when he walked on earth two thousand years ago; do they fear him as he walks in what professes to be his church, his body on earth?

Jesus said, “If you love me keep my commandments.” Are we able and willing to execute his commandment when faced with the reality of a demonic presence in the life of a needy soul?

08/21/2026

Hebrews 9:11–14
The Blood of Christ

Verse 11. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

The writer reaches back to the Law of Moses to compare God’s dealing with human sin then to his dealing with human sin through Christ. Under the Law, the high priest was crucial in the work of atonement for sin. Only the high priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, and later the temple, to offer the blood sacrifice for the sins of the people in the presence of God. The Shekinah glory of God hovered over the Ark of the Covenant in that most sacred room and nothing sinful could ever enter that room and live. The high priest had to first make a sacrifice for his own sins before he could go into that sacred room. He took the blood of the sacrificial animal with him into the room and sprinkled the blood seven times on the Ark and through that ritual God rolled the sins of the people ahead to what our writer calls the good things to come.

Christ is that good thing to come and it is said that he came with a greater and more perfect tabernacle. The tabernacle under the Law of Moses was a spectacular tent containing all the essential articles of worship. Outwardly it was plain and drab but inwardly it was wonderfully beautiful. But the tabernacle was designed by God to be temporary and only a picture of the glorious work of redemption he would do through Christ.

Christ came into this world in a human body; not made with hands but a real body. The writer says it is not of this creation referring to the Incarnation; Christ was born a real man but that real man is also the Second Person of the Godhead. The incarnation was absolutely necessary for God’s plan of atonement. Christ’s body was far greater than the whole of the tabernacle and all its rituals because it was only through this body Christ was able to bear the responsibility of all human sin and make atonement for that sin in his death.

Verse 12. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Jesus was not just a high priest who presented a better sacrifice, he is that better sacrifice. Under the Law of Moses, the blood of sacrificial animals was used to make a ceremonial atonement for sin. Yes, people’s sins were forgiven because of the shedding of animal blood. Those animals were incapable of committing sin so they were innocent of any sin and they did die in the place of the person making the sacrifice. But the problem with those sacrifices was that they did not solve the sin problem. People would continue to commit sin and have to make more sacrifices because of those sins.

The blood of Jesus was human blood from a human life that was tested by temptation but committed no sin. This was truly innocent and holy blood. The writer tells us the blood of Christ solved the sin problem once for all. How could it do that? Because it made possible eternal redemption. The blood of Christ is there for the redemption of the human race to buy us back from sin. Repenting sin and appealing to the shed blood of Christ enables us to receive eternal redemption. That means those sins are no longer there and it takes away the necessity to keep on sinning.

Verses 13–14 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?

Here we have a reflective pause. The writer looks back to the animal sacrifices and is thankful for the forgiveness obtained through God’s love under that system of religion. He now rejoices in the atonement in Christ because it results not just in forgiveness but in cleansing. Christ offered himself on the cross without spot to God—no sin whatsoever—and on the cross he gave his life as payment for our sin.

In Christianity we perhaps do not fully comprehend what it means to have sin cleansed from our lives; it is an intangible we take for granted. However, the writer tells us that our conscience is cleansed from dead works to serve the living God. First, it clears our conscience and frees us from the guilt brought about by sin. Yes, we are sorry we sinned in the past but we have been set free from the guilt of that sin. And now we are able to serve God faithfully and consistently and do not have to be overcome by sin anymore.

Christ, our high priest, saves us from sin to serve the living God.

Address

Lawton, OK

Opening Hours

Wednesday 7pm - 8pm
Sunday 10am - 12pm
5pm - 6pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Lawton Church of God posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category