Hebrews 10:15-18
The author of Hebrews quotes from Jeremiah 31:34, where God gives the promise of the New Covenant. That promise includes God’s laws being written into our hearts and minds, meaning that under the New Covenant we live according to the identification of the Spirit within us, not according to some written list of instructions. Granted, that identification of the Spirit will always line up with God’s holiness, but the higher form of living is being led by the heart, not by the hand.
The second promise is found in verse 17, and it includes a distinctive New Testament feature. In Jeremiah, God promises to forgive the iniquities and to remember the sin no more, but when it appears in Hebrews He promises that He will forget all sins and iniquities; not just forgive them. What a glorious point of the Covenant; that all of our sins and our iniquities are remembered no more by God. Sin speaks of your personal wrongdoings, while iniquities speak of the sins of your fathers or the “generational curse”. There is no punishment for you lingering from the sins of your family members, for Jesus took the curse away.
This second promise is the backbone of the New Covenant. All of the beauty of this deal between Jesus and His Father is found in the understanding of this statement. Whereas under the Old Covenant, God promised that He would never forget our sins and that He would visit them upon our household, in the New Covenant, God promises that He will NEVER remember our sins and that He will not hold them against us anymore.
To be perfectly honest, I am not sure why we are not going crazy with excitement over this verse. Perhaps we have not had it preached to us enough, or we have been led to believe that it has some form of condition or clause to it that takes away its power and influence. Read it slowly and soak it in believer: God has promised not to remember out sins and our iniquities anymore. WOW!
Since these sins are gone, there is no more offering for sin (Hebrews 10:18). No more lambs need be killed; no more priests need to work the altars. Jesus has paid our sin debt and now no more blood must be shed. Keeping sin consciousness in your heart causes you to go back and forth to God for washing and re-washing. Remember, God does not remember your sins; neither should you.
You say, “Pastor, don’t I need to confess my sins in order for the Lord to forgive me for them?” This idea comes from 1 John 1:9, where John says to confess your sins and He is faithful and just to forgive you of all unrighteousness. Look at the context of this passage as John is speaking to people that deny that they have any sin. He is speaking to sinners who do not see their need for a Savior. All they have to do is confess their need and He is faithful to cleanse them. When John speaks to you and me, he refers to us as “little children” and then tells us that if we sin we have an advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1).
Rest against the backbone of the New Covenant; the fact that God chooses to remember your sins no more. Hallelujah!
The author of Hebrews quotes from Jeremiah 31:34, where God gives the promise of the New Covenant. That promise includes God’s laws being written into our hearts and minds, meaning that under the New Covenant we live according to the identification of the Spirit within us, not according to some written list of instructions. Granted, that identification of the Spirit will always line up with God’s holiness, but the higher form of living is being led by the heart, not by the hand.
The second promise is found in verse 17, and it includes a distinctive New Testament feature. In Jeremiah, God promises to forgive the iniquities and to remember the sin no more, but when it appears in Hebrews He promises that He will forget all sins and iniquities; not just forgive them. What a glorious point of the Covenant; that all of our sins and our iniquities are remembered no more by God. Sin speaks of your personal wrongdoings, while iniquities speak of the sins of your fathers or the “generational curse”. There is no punishment for you lingering from the sins of your family members, for Jesus took the curse away.
This second promise is the backbone of the New Covenant. All of the beauty of this deal between Jesus and His Father is found in the understanding of this statement. Whereas under the Old Covenant, God promised that He would never forget our sins and that He would visit them upon our household, in the New Covenant, God promises that He will NEVER remember our sins and that He will not hold them against us anymore.
To be perfectly honest, I am not sure why we are not going crazy with excitement over this verse. Perhaps we have not had it preached to us enough, or we have been led to believe that it has some form of condition or clause to it that takes away its power and influence. Read it slowly and soak it in believer: God has promised not to remember out sins and our iniquities anymore. WOW!
Since these sins are gone, there is no more offering for sin (Hebrews 10:18). No more lambs need be killed; no more priests need to work the altars. Jesus has paid our sin debt and now no more blood must be shed. Keeping sin consciousness in your heart causes you to go back and forth to God for washing and re-washing. Remember, God does not remember your sins; neither should you.
You say, “Pastor, don’t I need to confess my sins in order for the Lord to forgive me for them?” This idea comes from 1 John 1:9, where John says to confess your sins and He is faithful and just to forgive you of all unrighteousness. Look at the context of this passage as John is speaking to people that deny that they have any sin. He is speaking to sinners who do not see their need for a Savior. All they have to do is confess their need and He is faithful to cleanse them. When John speaks to you and me, he refers to us as “little children” and then tells us that if we sin we have an advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1).
Rest against the backbone of the New Covenant; the fact that God chooses to remember your sins no more. Hallelujah!
