Their sins and their lawless deeds I will no longer remember.

Hebrews 10:1-17 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the form of those things itself, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually every year, make those who approach perfect. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? ³ But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵ Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,

“You have not desired sacrifice and offering, But You have prepared a body for Me; ⁶ You have not taken pleasure in whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin. ⁷ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (It is written of Me in the scroll of the book) To do Your will, O God.’”

⁸ After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), ⁹ then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

¹¹ Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; ¹² but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time onward until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. ¹⁵ And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,

¹⁶ “This is the covenant which I will make with them After those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws upon their hearts, And write them on their mind,”

He then says,

¹⁷ “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will no longer remember.”

Today’s text says: Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,  “This is the covenant which I will make with them After those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws upon their hearts, And write them on their mind,” He then says,  “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will no longer remember.”  God says He will not remember our sins, but that doesn’t mean we can choose to continue in sin and presume that He will forget about or accept our sin. It says: For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. We are not only forgiven for our sin, we are also redeemed from sin, sanctified by and in Christ. God’s will and His ways have been made clear to us. They are written upon our hearts and minds. We know the difference between good and evil; between darkness and light. God says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)

1 John 1:5-10 says: God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.  The only sin that the blood of Jesus is unable to cleanse us from, is the sin we choose to continue in, the sin we are unwilling to confess as sin. Do we make God a liar for saying He will not remember our sin, because we keep it constantly before Him? In truth, it is not that He remembers, but rather that He sees our sin and knows our heart. Numbers 23:19 says: “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”  This holds true not only for the blessings and promises of God, but also that He has said disobedience, immorality and unrighteousness will be judged. In Deuteronomy 30:15-20 God says: “See, I have placed before you today life and happiness, and death and adversity, in that I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and take possession of it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days…”  Some will argue and say, but that is the old covenant, the very thing that the text is saying has been replaced. Yet, Jesus, the facilitator of the new covenant, the very one who shed His blood to enact that new covenant says: “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-20) and “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)  God will not remember the sin of those who are sanctified in Christ. Those who practice lawlessness will not be known by Him.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ for Your redeeming love and Your sanctification given to us through the blood of Christ.  Thank You precious Holy Spirit for enabling and empowering us to walk in the sanctification of Christ, cleansed and redeemed, known by Him.  Amen.