“ And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
[16] "This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,"
[17] then he adds,
"I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
[18] Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.”
(Hebrews 10:15-18 (ESV)
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. No longer any offering for sin. But we try. I hear it all too often, people wanting to do something to make up for their sins. It seems natural to try to cancel out “the bad ones”. It really shows a very naïve view of sin. If we really looked at who we are, and what we do, we would realize how futile it would be to try to make up for our sins. But no everyone seems to think they can make up some offering for sin. But we can’t make up for it, because God doesn’t remember our sins, and lawless deeds. All he sees is us his saints, doing his work, not from a guilty conscience but from a clean one.
1 comment:
luther in his sermon on the 3rd use of the law says....
"14. The reason for this is, that man’s understanding cannot get beyond this external piety of works, and cannot comprehend the righteousness of faith; but, the greater and more skillful this understanding is, the more it confines itself to works and rests upon them. It is not possible for man in times of temptation and distress, when his conscience smites him, to cease from groping around for works on which to stand and rest. Then we seek and enumerate the many good deeds, which we would like to do, or have done, and because we find none, the heart begins to doubt and despair. This weakness adheres so firmly to our nature, that even those who have faith and recognize the grace of God, or the forgiveness of sins, cannot overcome it with all their efforts and exertions, and must daily contend against it. In short it is entirely beyond human knowledge and understanding, ability and power, to ascend above this earthly righteousness, and to transfer oneself into this article of faith; and although one hears much about it and is conversant with it, there continues nevertheless the old delusion and inborn corruption which would bring its own works before God and make them the foundation of salvation. Such is the case, I say, with those who are Christians and fight against this workrighteousness; others, critics and inexperienced souls are even lost in it. "
http://www.godrules.net/library/luther/129luther_e13.htm
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