Study Desk

He said, "The blood seals the deal between God and his people."

Jesus didn't walk into a holy place made from human hands, he went to the real deal in heaven so he could vouch for us once and for all in front of God.

That old agreement between God and his people was just the shadow on the ground of the real thing to come. Every single year, every sacrifice had to be made again and again. Animal blood just couldn't get the job done for very long. The cleaning it gave just wasn't pure. Following rules and sacrificing animals couldn't make anyone perfect.

That was Christ's job. He even said to God, "You didn't want more animal sacrifices or more sin offerings. You've given me a body to use as a sacrifice.

Under the old code, a man of God would stand before the altar and do the same thing again and again and again, but it never took away one sin.

But our Man of God, Jesus, gave himself as an offering to God one time and it took sins away for all time. When his job was done, he got to sit down at the right hand of God who is on the throne of thrones.

So, here's the deal now, we can walk right into the throne room of God because of what Jesus did for us.

Let us tie hard and fast to the hope we've been given. God don't crawfish on his promises.

It'll be so much worse now. To continue to sin after you've been forgiven is like walking over the body of Jesus like a doormat, wiping your feet off on him. Do you really think God is going to be okay with that? That is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and God will not have mercy on the cowboy who does it.

Listen, you'd better get your heart right. It won't be pretty to fall into the hands of the living God.

So don't throw all that away. Keep trusting in God and having the confidence you once had in Him. There's a great reward waiting on the faithful.

It's faith that helps us see that God made everything in the universe and we don't need more explanation than that.

It was Abel's heapin' of faith that helped him bring a sacrifice to God that was worthy of what it was supposed to be. Cain's was not. Abel's sacrifice showed his faith in God and God showed his approval. Even though Abel has long been in the grave, his example still speaks.

It was because Enoch had a heapin' of faith that he was taken up to heaven without dying. Before he left, he had a reputation as being someone God admired.

It was by a heapin' of faith that Noah built him a big boat for his family to ride out the storm that wiped everyone else out. It was as simple as listening to God and doing what he said—even though no one had even heard of such a thing happening before. Noah's faith was the dividing line between who was saved and who was lost.

It was by a heapin' of faith that Abraham saddled up and rode off to new country like God told him to. God said there was a great inheritance waitin' on him. He rode off without a clue as to where he was going.

It was by a heapin' of faith that Abe's wife Sarah was able to have a kid. She was way too long in the tooth and she was dry to boot. A child had to come from God and she believed that God keeps his word.

But no, they set their eyes on something bigger and better that was just over the final hill—their forever home in heaven. And it is there that God is waiting on his hands. He ain't ashamed to call them his crew and he has something amazing waiting on them.

It was a whole heapin' of faith that allowed Abe to offer up his only boy Isaac as a sacrifice. God wasn't really going to let him do it. With great promises come great tests.

Abe knew God had promised him that through Isaac he would have descendants.