I was listening to the “all Christmas music” station just before Christmas, and the radio announcer came on and said, “In all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, remember the reason for the season: family and friends!” “Family and friends?!” We know the truth is that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ. But we wouldn't celebrate the birth of Jesus if he was just a baby in a manger. In fact, we wouldn't celebrate his birth if it were just for Good Friday. Lots of people have died for us over the years. We celebrate them on Memorial Day, and now on Hero Day, September 11th. In reality, the “reason for the Christmas season” is Easter. It is because of his resurrection we celebrated His birth. And it is because of Jesus' resurrection that we now celebrate His death. The gift of God the Father became perfect on the day Jesus the Son laid down the gift of His life, conquered death, and paid for sin.
Hebrews 10 says that “the [Old Testament] law [was] only a shadow of the good things that [were to come] ... It [could] never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who [drew] near to worship. ...But those sacrifices [served as] an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, … He [set] aside the first to establish the second. And [so], we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
Brothers and sisters, the work of Christ was to sanctify us, to set us apart as holy, so that we would be acceptable to enter into the heavenlies, to spend personal time with the Father and with Jesus Christ, who is too holy to allow sin near Him.
Paul continues in Hebrews 10, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith … Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
The promise is that if we hold on to the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we have the assurance of that holiness that He requires. But, in this time of self-examination, I call you to hear the words that follow that triumphant declaration: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?”
My friends, we have become a passive generation of Christians. As you hold these emblems today, I urge you to consider your attitude toward your salvation. Have you taken this sacrifice for granted, and trampled it under foot, or are you holding unswervingly to the hope that you profess?
