The
Just Shall Live By Faith!
Hebrews
10
"For
the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices,
which they offer continually year by year, make those who
approach perfected. For then would they not have ceased to
be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have
had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices
there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
"Therefore,
when He (Jesus) came into the world, He said: 'Sacrifice and
offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared
for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had
no pleasure. Then I said, "Behold, I have come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do Your will, O
God,"' (Psalm 40:6-8).
"Previously
saying, 'Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings
for sin You did not desire, nor have pleasure in them' (which
are offered according to the law), then He said, 'Behold,
I have come to do Your will, O God.' He takes away the first
that He may establish the second. By the will of God we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all.
"And
every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this
Man, after He had offered once sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting
till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering
He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
"But
the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after 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 I will write them,' then He adds, 'their
sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more,' (Jeremiah
31:33, 34), Now where there is remission of these, there is
no longer an offering for sin.
"Therefore,
brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood
of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for
us, through the veil, that is, 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 confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another
in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as in the manner of some,
but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see
the Day approaching.
"For
if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of
the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but
a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation
which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected
Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will
he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot,
counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified
a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know
Him who said, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' (Deuteronomy
32:35), says the Lord. And again, 'The Lord will judge His
people,' (Deuteronomy 23:36). It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God.
"But
recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated,
you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while
you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations,
and partly while you became companions of those who were so
treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully
accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have
a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great
reward.
"For
you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the
will of God, you may receive the promise: 'For yet a little
while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him,' (Habakkuk 2:3, 4). But we
are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those
who believe to the saving of the soul."
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