curg16

Can You Reach God

Lesson Sixteen: by turtle

One of the things God seems to fight against more times then not with those that choose to worship
Him in ritualism. One must remember God see the heart of man. He knows the mind of man. He
knows us individually. One form of ritualism we see today in the church world is the thinking that
some object has power. For example prayer cloths. The prayer cloth itself has no power, however
when we pray over it and ask God to anoint it, then we asking that whoever wears it receive healing
through the anointing of God. God’s power not the cloth itself power. Some think the power is in the
cloth giving no credit to God. There is a point I am trying to make with this illustration, even if you do
not believe in using prayer cloth, you believe perhaps in the power of God and His ability to heal even
unto salvation through His Son. However what took place with the sacrificial law was that people
believed the objects or animals themselves could save a person. Instead of seeing the symbolism and
the reminder of faith. The prayer cloth is a reminder of faith. Yet only the power of God can heal. Just
like only the sacrifice through the blood of Christ can save.

Now some not use to this language better sit back for a second to hear what is being said. Christ death
on the cross and resurrection does it save? Does the blood of Christ save? Belief or faith is our
response to God. Believing what God said He would do by sending His Son to be the sacrifice for our
sins. Symbol of faith the cross has no power to save, however it reminds us of the atoning work of
Christ death on the cross.

Israel came to a place in history of performing the sacrifices with out believing. The sacrifices were a
symbol of what was to come. What God had plan to do by sending His Son.

Hebrews 10:1-5 KJV
(1) For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can
never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto
perfect.
(2) For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sins.
(3) But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
(4) For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
(5) Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but
a body hast thou prepared me:

Okay we got people going around in the world saying we believe in the cross we believe in the blood.
And people in the world looking and saying what? Yet someone versed in church world will say they
know God saves, that Christ saves. However the language is the problem in the world. They
understand not because of our confusion of language. Giving attributes to objects and not to God. God
is sick of the hypocrisy of Israel bring sacrifices to Him. Yet not believing in Him. It like giving a gift
with no thought or meaning behind it. We do the same when we think not of God. The church here is
not the body of Christ, it is true hypocrisy in the religious realm. God is not happy with ritualism, in the
since of duty, because it is expected of a person or group. Instead He wants true worshippers.

Hebrews 10:6 KJV
(6) In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

Then why send His Son to die on the cross one might ask. The Son came to do the will of the one that
sent Him. His coming was for a purpose.

Hebrews 10:7-9 KJV
(7) Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
(8) Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
(9) Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish
the second.

God took away the first covenant that sacrificial law through His Son. Now that is a lot to grasp.
However let us put the second covenant in perspective with the first. In other words what it means.

Hebrews 10:10-17 KJV
(10) By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
(11) And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins:
(12) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of
God;
(13) From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
(14) For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
(15) Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
(16) This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my
laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
(17) And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Actually if one thinks long enough you will see that Christ completed the law. He was the final sacrifice
for sin. Yet without Christ going to the cross we still be doing sacrifices of bulls, rams and goats. There
had to be a payment for sin. Christ redeemed us.

1 Peter 1:18-25 KJV
(18) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
(19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
(20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you,
(21) Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your
faith and hope might be in God.
(22) Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of
the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
(23) Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth for ever.
(24) For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and
the flower thereof falleth away:
(25) But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you.

If Christ redeemed us then one has to consider if it is the final sacrifice or not. What happens if we sin
again. First we need to back up God has put His seal or stamp of approval on us after we get saved.
God marks us as His.

Ephesians 1:12-14 KJV
(12) That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
(13) In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in
whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
(14) Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the
praise of his glory.

Abraham sinned yet he was called righteous. Why because of belief. He was before the law. Before
the sacrificial law for sin. Yet he looked for a day that his ancestor would redeem his people. Yet not
only his ancestor but God.

Genesis 17:18-22 KJV
(18) And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
(19) And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and
I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
(20) And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful,
and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
(21) But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in
the next year.
(22) And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

Christ is from the line of Abraham

Matthew 1:1-2 KJV
(1) The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
(2) Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;

The everlasting covenant would be established through Isaac line, but it did not mean that God had
forsake Abraham’s other children. Heir of a king is never the concubines son. It is always the first wife
son or a bloodline of family. Hagar was servant of Sarah, not the first wife. God does not and never
exempted anyone that had faith in Him. However the final sacrifice for sin would come through Jesus
the ancestor of Abraham through the Jewish line. However He would still be a cousin to Ishmael. Our
land is at war in the middle east, however though I be against Islam, I am not against the people. And
this site goes everywhere. With this said all nations need to know Jesus loves them and died for them.
Not just Israel.

Romans 9:24-26 KJV
(24) Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
(25) As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved,
which was not beloved.
(26) And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people;
there shall they be called the children of the living God.

When we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, God sees not our sin but the blood that covers us.
Like the veil that separated Him from the people in the temple.

Hebrews 10:19-23 KJV
(19) Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
(20) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh;
(21) And having an high priest over the house of God;
(22) 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.
(23) Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

1 John 1:7 KJV
(7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Keyword is all sin. Christ takes away all sin. God sees the sacrifice of His Son when He looks at us.
We are cleansed from all sin.

Then we have to stop and look at Hebrews a little closer. Timothy the writer is giving more instruction
to the beleiver based on what Christ as done for us by removing our sin. One is to hold to our faith
without wavering. The second is not to forsake the assembly of ourselves. Third exhorting one another
in truth, because we see Christ fast return.

Hebrews 10:23-25 KJV
(23) Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
(24) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
(25) Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one
another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We are not to turn away of God. We are to believe unto the saving of our soul. Living Holy. However
I have to wonder do any of us do this perfectly. I say not. But God gives us warning.

Hebrews 10:26-32 KJV
(26) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no
more sacrifice for sins,
(27) But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries.
(28) He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
(29) Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under
foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an
unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
(30) For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
(31) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(32) But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great
fight of afflictions;

If you are reading this and are backslidden, remember what God says.

Romans 9:15-19 KJV
(15) For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion.
(16) So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
(17) For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
(18) Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
(19) Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

Repent and turn it over to God. Leave it at His feet of mercy. Walk in His ways.

Hebrews 10:33-39 KJV
(33) Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst
ye became companions of them that were so used.
(34) For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
(35) Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
(36) For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the
promise.
(37) For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
(38) Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
(39) But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul.

What happens if we willfully sin? Will fully disobey God? All I can say if God has pricked your heart
you better repent. Realize we all go through periods of repentance. If you been chastised by God then
God is looking for your repentance of heart. God loves you. Children sometimes willfully disobey there
parents. Yet parents if they are honest, most still love their children.

Hebrews 12:5-11 KJV
(5) And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise
not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
(6) For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
(7) If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not?
(8) But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
(9) Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence:
shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
(10) For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that
we might be partakers of his holiness.
(11) Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

1 John 2:1-2 KJV
(1) My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
(2) And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world.

Call on God today and repent of your sins. Christ died for you. He paid your sin debt.