Christ - the Sacrifice, High Priest, and Advocate

Proverbs 1, Luke 18, Hebrews 8, Hebrews 9

 

A few comments, and then some heavy duty scripture:

 

First, I have helped several people over the last week, and the question has been raised - How much do I help people before it becomes wrong?  Christ gave his life away, and He calls me to do likewise; so when should I answer someone that I won't help them?  When did Christ say he wouldn't help someone, and what was His motivation for doing it? 

 

Second, I "randomly" crossed paths with a gentleman today that doesn't believe.  In the middle of explaining his perspective on the absence of morality, he said something like, "... you don't need someone to tell you what's right.  You can know what is good just from being in tune with nature..."  Now, if you ask me, that sounds a lot like the ubiquitous sense of morality that C.S. Lewis describes in Mere Christianity.

 

Hebrews 8:10

10 But this is the new covenant I will make
      with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord:
   I will put my laws in their minds,
      and I will write them on their hearts.
   I will be their God,
      and they will be my people.

Hebrews 9:11-15, 24-28

11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. 13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people's bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15 That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

...

24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. 25 And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. 26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.   27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of eternal life.  Jesus, thank you for your shed blood that washes away my sins.  Lord, may you use me to lead others to a saving knowledge of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.