To Encourage You

Hebrews 1:3 “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “if you want something to be done right, you have to do it yourself!”  I’ve heard this said (in fact I’ve been known to say it) when someone had asked or paid for someone to do a task and the job wasn’t done to their satisfaction. In that sense, it’s a statement of frustration.  However, sometimes this statement can be an expression of pride, thinking that we can do something better than anyone else.  That’s rarely, if ever, the case, however.  There’s always someone out there with more knowledge, experience, and natural ability that we have.  When it comes to mechanical repairs of various kinds, I know my own father is much better at it that I am. I frequently turn to him for advice in such matters.  Since I was a child, I’ve known that a pair of pliers or a screwdriver in his hands could do things more quickly and better than when those same tools were in my hands. 

Interestingly, in fact tragically, many people think that they are better in one area of life than even God, although they have absolutely no skill or even ability to do the task. It’s the matter of dealing with their own sin.  Every religion in the world but Christianity is an effort to deal with sin by man’s own efforts. It might be a ceremony of some type, some sacrifice, or a striving in one way or another to please their god.  Most people who claim to have no religion still believe that things will turn out ok for them in the end if they are “good people,” at least as good as the next guy.  But the fact of the matter is that all these efforts are futile, for no one has the ability or skill to do the work of dealing with their own sin.  Even the people of God who fastidiously obeyed the Law that God gave Moses on Mount Sinai, including all the blood sacrifices that were designed to deal with sin, ultimately did not deal with sin adequately, “for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4).  It is likewise impossible for any other effort of man to take away sins. Men don’t have that ability, and any time they try, their efforts will be met with absolute failure. 

You see, sin is a God-sized problem.  It is so pervasive, so overwhelming, so incredibly difficult to deal with, that only God can do it.  And how did He do it? He did it by the work of His own Son.  As the verse above tells us, it was Jesus and Jesus alone who could make purification for sins.  Because He was the only sinless One Who ever lived, only He could pay for the sins of others by the sacrifice or His own blood. And you know what?  His work is finished.  As the verse above tells us, after He had made purification for the sins of the world, He sat down.  There’s no more work for Him or anyone else to do at this point. Any such efforts are futile at best. They are unnecessary and ineffective. More than that, they are worthless, for “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6). That’s how God sees them. 

So, long story short, if we ever hope to have our sins dealt with, if we ever hope to be purified from our sins, if we ever hope to be freed from guilt for the sins that so thoroughly stain your, mine, and everyone else’s life, then we must rely on the finished work of Christ, for He’s the only One Who’s ever had the ability to do it.  But, wonderfully, He had that power and He finished that work that absolutely no one else has ever been able to do, and He’s done it perfectly. All that was necessary to deal with sin has already been thoroughly and completely finished!

So, have you trusted in His finished work to take away your sin?  Have you gone to the only One Who can do it?  If not, may God give you the grace to turn to His Son, for your own efforts are worthless for this task.