Saturday 24 March, 2018

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

I don’t think we take sin seriously. In our western, affluent culture, where we are faced daily with greed and pride and selfishness and media saturation, opportunities for small compromises are everywhere. Sin is epidemic. On the surface we don’t need God so we live as if we don’t need God.

But this passage rocks me to the core –

If I continue in sin there is no sacrifice that will cover it. v26.

Continue in sin and I’ll face the same fiery fate as God’s enemies. v27

Deliberately continue doing the things I know are wrong is like stomping on Jesus and insulting the Holy Spirit. v29

When will I take this seriously? When will I fall on my knees and cry out in desperation to God “please forgive this rotten sinner”? When will I fully appreciate that the blood that Jesus shed on the cross should have been mine and would have been had Jesus not stepped in at the last moment? When will I throw up my hands in surrender and worship and, once and for all, completely abandon my life to the one who paid everything He had to save it?

Holy Spirit, please do your amazing work in me and convict me anew of sin in my life. Quicken my heart to hear and respond – I never want to insult you or trample on the precious blood of Jesus shed for me.   Amen

Written by Boudy VanNoppen