GOD Morning! Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

14nov17

GOD Morning!

God’s word is grabbing ahold of me this morning. And not letting go.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 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? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,

“In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”

And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” Hebrews 10:19-39

1. If you don’t have confidence, you need to find some. Get down and pray for a bold confidence to embrace everything in God’s word for yourself. I don’t know how anyone can feel uncertain after studying God’s word. Take ownership of God’s word. It’s not just for spiritual people or pastors. We are all sinners saved by grace. We can have as much of God as we want. There are no big people and little people in Christ. We are all welcome to come into the presence of the King of kings as often as we want.

2. Paul is recapping here… Once and for all, Jesus paid the price for our sins and became our High Priest.

3. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart. There is no other way to draw near to God. We can’t hold anything back. Get it? Hold nothing back from God. He already knows anyway.

4. Does anybody know what a guilty conscience feels like? We all do. We need to personally experience the power of the blood applied to our hearts. For ourselves. Every day. How? Just say it, and mean every word. “Jesus please cleanse my heart with Your blood.” It’s that simple.

5. Washing our bodies with pure water means reading the Bible and applying it to our lives. Submitting to the conviction that we feel in our hearts as we read. Embracing the Word for ourselves.

6. Hang onto the Hope that we talk about. No matter what, hang on for dear life. Literally. Jesus is faithful. He was faithful unto death.

7. Encourage one another to do good deeds. How? Invite friends to join you when you are doing good deeds. Plus, don’t just be a good listener. Instead, prayerfully offer Godly counsel when you have the opportunity, or you feel a nudge from God. Which brings me to this. If it feels random, it’s most likely God speaking to you.

8. Don’t give up meeting together as some have done. Wow. This hits home. We all think of church, right? Church is absolutely necessary, I agree. But this scripture is talking about more than just church. We each need a group. Ask God for a group of encouraging friends if you aren’t already a part of one. The purpose is to encourage one another in Christ. Just prayerfully find or create an encouraging group of friends. This is Biblical.

9. The next part goes back to what we talked about previously. If we keep sinning after we feel that conviction in our heart, things will get ugly. Just read the next scripture. There is a one hundred percent chance that God will get tired of our deliberate disobedience and shut the door on us. Again, I’m not referring to slipping and messing up. I’m referring to looking God right in the face and going our own way in a rebellious manner.

10. When we stare God in the face and keep sinning, we “trample the Son of God underfoot”, we treat the precious blood of Jesus as an “unholy thing”, and “insult the spirit of Grace”. Whoa.

11. We will be repaid by God for that kind of behavior. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

12. However, when we joyfully follow after Christ in spite of hardship, we will be richly rewarded.

13. Again, we must not throw away our confidence. Confidence is everything. We will receive the promises of God if we simply hang in there.

14. Jesus is coming soon.

15. If we hang in there with confidence, we will live.

16. If we shrink back, God will take no pleasure in us and we will be destroyed.

Paul repeats himself a lot. But this is a great teaching style. Because we are human, we tend to skip over the hard parts and focus on the pleasing parts.

Jesus repeated Himself a lot. Actually, He repeats Himself a lot when He talks to me. It’s almost funny sometimes. He knows me so well. I am very emotional. I am up and down. He won’t let me forget stuff. Especially when I am going through a tough trial. He is constantly whispering affirmation in my ear.

So anyway, what an amazing study we have had today. We simply can’t serve God and sin at the same time. Our sin will definitely, without a doubt, slap us in the face in the form of a slammed door. The door of opportunity for forgiveness will slam shut by God Himself and we will be locked out forever.

“God, I love to emphasize all the exciting parts of Your word. I love to focus on the blessings, living forever with You in Heaven, and all of that. But I must look hard at the negative parts. If I continue in sin, You will shut the door on me. I must constantly ask for Your forgiveness and mercy. I must constantly weep tears of repentance. I must constantly change and grow. I must never accept sin in my life, thinking that You will overlook it as I am doing. On God, my heart is pricked with Your word this morning. How I love You. Please cleanse me with the washing of Your word. In Jesus name I pray, AMEN.”

Blessings,

Vicki