Message: In Hebrews 9 the author continued the comparison between the old and new covenant by explaining how the old covenant paid for sin on a repetitious basis, but had no power to cleanse the heart. The new covenant paid for sin once and for all and provided the power to cleanse the heart. While the old covenant focused on paying the debt, the new covenant took care of our debt so we could focus on the change. I feel like this is a topic that has become do distorted because Christians call this ‘grace’. Since the bible tells us that we are saved by grace through faith many believe this means that works are the equivalent of us trying to pay for own salvation. The problem with this is it assumes the works are an earning system rather than out of a changed heart. This comparison became clearer to me than ever as I read this today. The people of Israel had to pay a certain amount every time they sinned. This is like the extreme version of a change jar for cuss words. There was an assigned amount they had to pay in sacrifices for each sin. If they slowed down their sin it was motivated by a desire to stop paying for it, but not out of a changed heart. We live in an entirely different system. Our sin was already paid for and this requires a change in us. If we are repeatedly continue the same sin without repentance or taking any steps to change, we are treating the once and for all sacrifice that Jesus made with disrespect. The last chapter said our unrepentant and unchanged sin was like hanging Jesus on the cross all over again. We aren’t required to pay for our sin. We are required to let our freedom from sin change our hearts. We have the power to change because Jesus left us the Holy Spirit to convict and change our hearts. When our hearts are changed the desire for sin changes and we no longer fall into the trap of repeated cycles of sin.
