There are two very important parts to today's lesson, the first of which is the author's confirmation that since Jesus offered Himself up as a 'one time fits all' sacrifice for the sins of the world, there has been, nor will there ever be, another means by which mankind can achieve redemption from sin. "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; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, THERE IS NO MORE OFFERING FOR SIN."
For those of us whom have been sanctified by our faith in Jesus Christ, there simply is NO more sin, as sin pertains to the eternal salvation of our souls.
Will we continue to commit the "sins of the flesh" absolutely! However, through our faith in Christ, those "everyday sins" are JUSTIFIED by the blood of that same Jesus Christ and no longer do they separate us from God the Father!
The second very important portion of this text is its reference to the assembling of Christian people, the Church.
I have yet to find any scriptural reference to a required time frame for the assembling of the Church. Among many isms, it is held that the membership should meet at least once a week, that assembly being generally restricted to either Saturday, or Sunday. Again, I have found NO scriptural reference requiring an established assembly, no matter what the determined date.
There is, however, scriptural evidence that the Church is URGED to assemble, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 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."
This is the ONLY passage in the entire New Testament that even vaguely suggests that Church members are to assemble themselves together and it does NOT specify any particular time line.
There are those who, from this single passage, have established that if one does not attend "church" every time the door swings, they are no obeying the commandments of Jesus Christ.
Nothing could be further from the truth! These, obviously well intentioned Christians, have made "church" attendance appear to be more important than the fulfilling of the great commission, which is, in part, to "go ye therefore, and teach all nations".
My interpretation of the above passage is that we are not to simply accept Christ as savior and go on our separate ways. We are encouraged to assemble in order to accomplish those things this passage specifically refers to, which are, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:" This is the ultimate purpose of an assembly as laid out by the author of this entire text and we are further encouraged to assemble for this purpose more often as we see the day of redemption approaching.
My interpretation of the above passage is that we are not to simply accept Christ as savior and go on our separate ways. We are encouraged to assemble in order to accomplish those things this passage specifically refers to, which are, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:" This is the ultimate purpose of an assembly as laid out by the author of this entire text and we are further encouraged to assemble for this purpose more often as we see the day of redemption approaching.
Sadly there are those who have resolved themselves to obeying the one part of this text at the expense of the full challenge Jesus placed upon His Church.~
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