Sacrifices

By Michael Pemberton

“But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.” - Heb 10:3

I approached attending my 20-year high school reunion this last summer with a mixture of anticipation and horror.  Anticipation because I had come far since those days in that sleepy little Michigan town, and because I could hardly wait to renew old acquaintances and restore old friendships.

I could just see it in my mind.  Old friends and I sitting around a large candle-lit table with our spouses, telling stories about what we had accomplished since graduation and congratulating one another.  Picturesque so far, isn’t it?  That’s about where I would imagine something horrible happening.  Someone would approach our group and start reminding my friends, and telling my wife, about some of the really embarrassing things I did way back then.  You can imagine it.  I would just want to die.

 The sacrifices of the Old Testament were like that.  They had the power to force you to remember your sin, in detail, each time the sacrifice had to be offered.   Your conscience would never be clear as long as long as you had to go up to the temple and offer the sacrifice for your sin.  The stories of your embarrassing failures were told again and again.   You were forced to relive them in your mind.  There was no way out.  And you will never find a worse slave master than your own conscience.

 But the sacrifice of Jesus Christ changed everything.  It changes the force and focus of our lives.  Instead of being forced to remember our sins, we remember His forgiveness.  Instead of remembering our stupidity, we remember His love.  Instead of re-living our mistakes, we recall His great deed.  We focus on what He focuses on.  In stead of focusing on ourselves, we focus on Him.  Rather seeing shortcoming, we see grace.  And we can now concentrate on pleasing Him verses making up for errors we already committed.  In short, we’re free.

 Do you feel free?  If not, it could be that you don’t really know Jesus.  You may know of Him without knowing Him personally.  You need to ask Him to apply His blood for the forgiveness of your sins.  That makes His sacrifice yours.  That makes you free.

 But many that do know Jesus, still live in self-condemnation.  Why?  Well, the problem is simple faith.  We somehow believe there is a value to remembering our sin.  We beat ourselves.  We try to atone for our sins by being miserable.  Consider His effort to keep us from being reminded of our sins.  He died on the cross because the burden of our sins was greater than what we could bear.   He did all He could to separate our sins from us, and we’re trying to make sure we don’t lose track of them.  Everyone would agree that we should focus on the same thing that God focuses on.  Doesn’t it make sense to refuse to focus on things that He refuses to focus on?  Doesn’t it make sense to refuse to remember what God refuses to remember?

 “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” - Hebrews 10:17