Free to Serve God

Hebrews 9 : 13 - 15, For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? NKJV

In the context of today's passage, we read that God wants us to move beyond dead works and begin to serve Him with our hearts. However, in order for us to serve Him apart from dead works, we must first be willing both to seek and to listen to His voice. This brings me to the point of today's devotion. If you're a child of God, then you know that your sins have been forgiven by the Lord, and they will be remembered no more. Today, I want to ask you if you know that the blood of Jesus has done more for you than simply purchase your forgiveness. His blood not only offers us forgiveness of sin, but if we will pursue God's will and serve it in the earth, we will also discover that His blood cleanses our hearts and minds from the consciousness of sin.

We've heard many sermons and Bible studies on the power of Jesus' blood to forgive us of our sins, but how many times have you heard about the cleansing power of His blood? Forgiveness pertains to the way the Father sees our hearts, but cleansing has to do with the way we view our heavenly Father. If we know that our sins have been forgiven, we will be liberated from the power of sin. However, if our minds haven't been purged by His blood, we can struggle with being in the presence of God. This can explain, to a degree, why some believers are still afraid of God after they have received the Holy Spirit in their lives. 

The Jews who were led out of Egypt, the land of bondage, by Moses were afraid to hear God's voice when they came to Mount Sinai. They told Moses to speak with God and then tell them what He commanded, and they would obey. They were forgiven, or out of bondage, but they were afraid of God because of having a guilty or shameful conscience while in His presence. This is where many believers pull away from God; it is simply because they aren't taught about the cleansing power of Christ's blood in the walk of the believer. 

This fear comes from living their entire lives in unbelief. Now that God had delivered them and has saved us, He desires us to serve Him without fear. In order to dispel the fear of man, God requires us to walk by faith. The only way you and I can walk by faith is through obedience to God's Word and His voice. If you're afraid to be in the presence of God because you "FEEL" guilty or ashamed, even though you know that the Holy Spirit dwells in your heart, then know that you must submit to God by walking in faith and not in fear. Are you going to heed your feelings of fear now that God has saved you or will you submit to God and resist the Devil?

The first generation of Jews refused to obey the voice of God, and God didn't allow them to enter His rest or the Promised Land. The second generation obeyed the voice of God, and faith saved them from perishing in the wilderness. We all have a choice to make when we become believers in Christ. Will we serve God or will we allow a guilty conscience to keep us running from the God, who has already saved us from our sins? 

Romans 5: 8 - 11, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. NKJV

Now that you have been born again, you must take the next step and begin to serve Him by faith. Seek God with your whole heart and you will find Him. Don't be afraid to hear His voice or face what He might ask of you because He is for you. We don't have to fear the God that saved us, but we must reverence Him and honor His will in our lives. If we will reverence the Lord through obedient faith, He will purge our guilty conscience, and it will keep us from sin (Exodus 20:20).

Free from the Guilt of Sin,
Pastor Asa Dockery