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The Two Systems of God
A system is the way in which things are done, in order for life to flow. We might call it the rules which guide our life. Now the civil governments under which we live (federal, state, county, city) have their sets of laws, and consequences for going against them. We operate within this system, more or less. Maybe we allow ourselves to drive up to 10 miles over the speed limit. Maybe we allow ourselves to drink and drive. Maybe we cheat on our taxes. But all of us, regardless of our free will choices, live under and within this system. We are guided by it, to some degree, and we have to answer to it.
God also has a system, the way in which things work. The one in force today is different from the one in force in the Old Testament. Failure to conscientiously note the difference between the two causes so much trouble in our relationship with God.
Hebrews 10:1-24
Verse 1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
This was the old system. And it had its limitations. It could not bring those who walked within it to perfection.
Verse 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
The old system involved 1) an endless need to sacrifice for sin; and 2) an ongoing consciousness of sin.
Verse 3 But in those is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
If you’re reading the King James, (or some other versions of the bible) you’ll notice some words italicized in this (and other) verses. When people were translating the Bible, from the Greek to English, where a word-for-word translation did not flow well in English, the translators would add words, based on what they thought the passage was saying. In order to let us know that they’d added words, they italicized them. So if I leave out those words, I haven’t changed the original word of God, have I? I always like to leave out all the italicized words, just to see what the original text actually reads like. And then, sometimes, I add some words back in to help it flow in the way that I think it means.
The truth of verse 3 says that the sacrifice itself is a reminder of the sinfulness that requires the sacrifice.
Verse 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
It could alleviate the consequences of sin, chief of which is a guilty conscience, but it could not eradicate them, remove them completely.
Verses 5-10 Wherefore when he (Jesus) comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering You did not want, but a body have you prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have had no pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book (the Bible) it is written of me) to do Your will, O God. ((((…………… Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin You did not want, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do Your will, O God. He takes away the first, that He may establish the second…………))))))
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once.
You’ll notice I’ve added a bunch of parentheses to help understand what is written. In order to understand the flow of the sentence, skip over the parenthesis.
God established the law, which was established as a system for dealing with sin and its consequences. This system of dealing with sin lay in sacrificing living creatures. They had to continue to be sacrificed, because they were imperfect sacrifices.
Then God Himself prepared the perfect sacrifice…..His Son, Jesus Christ, who’s very existence was owed to the act of God impregnating Mary.
When that perfect sacrifice was offered….one single time……a new system was instituted by God. And the instituting of that new system did away with the old system.
It is so very very important that we understand this new system which God Himself has established. And also that we understand the differences between the new system and the old system, so that we don’t confuse the two, or blend the two.
Verse 11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering often times the same sacrifices, which can never take way sins; (the old system)
Verse 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; (new system)
Verse 13 For henceforth expecting (waiting in anticipation) till his enemies be made his footstool (that’s what’s happening now, at this time…..)
Verse 14 For by one offering he has perfected forever them who are sanctified. (new system)
You will never seek the perfection that God says He has made you to be, unless you are willing to believe you’ve been perfected. Once you believe you’ve been perfected, only then will you begin to seek that perfection….as a treasure that already exists……which perfection, of course, is only found in the spirit of the glorified Christ. (See study The Glorified Christ)
Verse 15-17 Of which the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us; for after that He had said before, 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 will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (new system)
If God Himself doesn’t remember them, why are we so eager to remember them for Him? “Hey God, I’m sorry I did so and so, that I yelled at so and so, that I had all those impure thoughts……” The act of recognizing the sin as sin, as far as God is concerned, is all that is required to free us from it and its consequences.
I John 1:9 If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Notice it doesn’t say, “feel bad for, repent, promise to never do it again” or anything like that. Simply confess (admit it). If we admit sin to be sin…..it’s over and we’re free from its unrighteousness.
Okay, I yell at my wife. Now what? Admit it…..”That was sin.” And I’m free!!!!! That verse doesn’t even say to confess it “to God.” Just admit it. It is so freeing to simply admit that something was stupid, wrong, sinful, erroneous, a mistake, etc. Until you do that….as long as you ignore it or make excuses for it….you’ll never be free from it.
Verse 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more (new system) offering for sin. (old system)
old system – sacrifice for sin. new system – sacrifice for sin no more !!!!!!!!!!
Now today, that old system still has an influence on most Christians. In order to sacrifice for sin, we Christians of course don’t kill animals. Instead, we give up our peace, our joy, our love, our confidence, our tenderness, our kindness, our thankfulness……we sacrifice these wonderful things, given to us by the hand of God, on the altar of our unbelief. We say, “I can’t be joyful, I’ve sinned. I will give my joy back to God, in order to appease Him. Surely then He’ll be happy with me.”
But the Word of God says that God Himself has established a new system, where all our sin has already been sacrificed for. So the only thing to do once we’ve sinned and admitted it, is to come back to Jesus Christ and dwell in his spirit, where all sin has been paid for, atoned for, sacrificed for. This is what pleases God….This is the perfect sacrifice, and this is living in the reality of that perfect sacrifice.
Verses 19-24 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, 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 sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.
These verses tell us:
1) Our sacrifice today is a living sacrifice…..Jesus Christ, alive today!
2) A sin consciousness is an evil conscience.
3) It takes boldness to believe that our sins have been paid for, by the once and for all sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.
God Himself has 1) eliminated the old system of dealing with sin, by 2) establishing a new system within which we can and should operate. We live within the new rules He has established. And those new rules absolutely eliminate any need to dwell on sin (our own or others’) or on a way to pay for them.
We are truly free in Christ. Now I urge you…..go and explore that freedom, boldly. You’ve been perfected in Christ!
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The Law vs. Faith
The Form of our Doctrine
Dead to the Law
Do not preach the Old Testament.
The Law of God
Freedom from Sin’s Domination
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