The 260 Journey

Day 212

Today’s Reading: Hebrews 8

Why should you go to heaven?

I have asked many people that question. The number one answer I get is, “I am a good person.” I remind them about what Jesus said. Jesus, who cannot lie, said that, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18).

And based on that person’s answer . . . now two are good in the universe: God and that person. They start to see not only is that not the right answer, they start to see the futility of that answer. God the Father did not send His only Son to suffer horrifically on the cross so that you can do your best to get to heaven. The cross means more than that. Jesus did not die to get you to church. Jesus died to get you to heaven. You have no way to get to heaven on your own, you need help. You need a miracle. You need a new covenant. The old covenant put you in the driver’s seat to do your best, and the Old Testament revealed that even at your best, it can’t get you to heaven.

Hebrews 8 shows us the help and the miracle—it’s the new covenant: “Now Jesus the Messiah has accepted a priestly ministry which far surpasses theirs, since he is the catalyst of a better covenant which contains far more wonderful promises!” (verse 6 TPT).

What is the “far more wonderful promises” of the new covenant? What makes this so different? It’s what God says next in the form of two words. What follows verse 6 reveals the heart of God and offers us great help and hope. Those two words? I will.

Seven times in this chapter, God says, “I will.” The new covenant is all on God. Where the old covenant was man trying to do better, the new covenant is God saying, You can’t, but I will.

We live in a culture that embraces the I will: I will be better. I will get this right. I will be a success. I will be rich. I will get to heaven.

If you answer the question “How do I get to heaven?” with something you do, then the “I” of the “I will” is you. You can’t be the “I.” The “I” is the Son of God. It’s what He has done for you in the new covenant. Martin Luther so powerfully reminds us of this when he said: “What makes you think that God is more pleased with your good deeds than he is with his blessed son?” 

What follows the statement of “far more wonderful promises” is this (all quoted from the NIV):

“I will make a new covenant.” (Verse 8)

“This is the covenant I will establish.” (Verse 10)

“I will put my laws in their minds.” (Verse 10)

“[I will] write them on their hearts.” (Verse 10)

“I will be their God.” (Verse 10)

“I will forgive their wickedness.” (Verse 12)

“[I] will remember their sins no more.” (Verse 12)

The new covenant is what God does for you, not what you do for God.

Another word for you being the “I” is legalism. You are working to make God like you and bring you to heaven. Legalism eliminates God’s involvement in your life and puts it all on you. Legalism says that God will really love you if you can change. As Tullian Tchividjian said, “The ironic thing about legalism is that it not only doesn’t make people work harder, it makes them give up.”

That is when God says, I have a better covenant for you.

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis said something that reminds me of the greatness of God’s I Will. Digest these powerful words: “Christ offers something for nothing: He even offers everything for nothing. In a sense, the whole Christian life consists in accepting that very remarkable offer. But the difficulty is to reach the point of recognising that all we have done and can do is nothing.”

That’s the new covenant.

Day 211

Today’s Reading: Hebrews 7

Comedian Ray Romano said this about parenting: “Having children is like living in a frat house—nobody sleeps, everything’s broken, and there is a lot of throwing up.” For us parents, this is so true. Let me tell you an “everything’s broken” story.

When my son was little, he loved to color. One day while I was away from my laptop, my son decided to take his coloring skills to a new level. He grabbed a black Sharpie permanent marker and drew all over the screen. I walked into my office and caught him. I was frozen, not sure what to do other than plan my son’s funeral. Then it hit me. My laptop was a Dell, and at the time, Dell had an amazing guarantee that if anything happened to the laptop, they would replace it. No way that guarantee means a Sharpie and a two-year-old, I thought, but figured I’d call Dell and tell them the story. The customer service representative laughed and said they would ship out a new laptop in a day and I could use that box to send back to Dell the one my son signed. They did guarantee their product.

Hebrews 7 takes guarantees to a whole new level. This chapter compares the old covenant under Old Testament priests with the new covenant under the High Priest and Savior, Jesus. And the writer finally arrives at the guarantee portion of the covenant:

“This makes Jesus the guarantee of a far better way between us and God—one that really works! A new covenant. Earlier there were a lot of priests, for they died and had to be replaced. But Jesus’ priesthood is permanent. He’s there from now to eternity to save everyone who comes to God through him, always on the job to speak up for them.” (Hebrews 7:22-25, MSG)

Jesus is the guarantee that the new covenant works and is better. Let me explain. When we are born again and come to God through Jesus Christ, we have a guarantee that we will make it to heaven. Under the old covenant a person was only as safe and secure as their next sin. And then they had to wait till the yearly sacrifice of the high priest for the sins of the nation of Israel. Under the new covenant, the writer tells us there is a guarantee. The Bible uses a comparable word to guarantee. It’s the word surety. That word means a person who takes responsibility for another’s performance of an undertaking. For example, their appearing in court or the payment of a debt. Remember the reality show Dog, the Bounty Hunter? He was a bail bondsman. When a person was released on bail money, but skipped appearing in court, Dog would hunt that person down to get that person to court.

That’s why it’s hard to be a backslider when our surety is Jesus. He comes after those who walk away from God, because He is the guarantee to get them not to court but to heaven. Jesus is the surety that we will make it to heaven. Jesus is, in a sense, your Dog, the bounty hunter. Ouch, I know that’s hard to say, but He is. He has too big of an investment in you to lose you.

How does Jesus help you in that? That’s where verse 25 explains an important point: “He is able to save fully from now throughout eternity, everyone who comes to God through him, because he lives to pray continually for them” (TPT).

Jesus is praying for you and me right now. And all of Jesus’ prayers get answered. He is committed to getting us home. Robert Murray McCheyne said it like this: “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference because He is praying for me.”

The short life of the Old Testament priests made their guarantee weak, and the writer of Hebrews tells us that since our Great High Priest, Jesus lives forever, this warranty lasts that long. Puritan writer Thomas Watson shares this wonderful insight about our guarantee:

“When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favourites, and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God’s call is founded upon His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people’s sins, but not their names.”

I like guarantees! When we buy certain products, especially electronic products, or when we buy a car, that guarantee is important. In buying gifts we like to know about the guarantee. Does it say, “Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back!”?

God offers His Son Jesus as our guarantee. God backs up His promises with His Son. Every time we see the reenactment of that first Christmas, we are being reminded of God’s guarantee. Think of it this way. If I made a promise to you, and you asked for some guarantee; some surety; that I would keep my promise, I would not hand over my son, Christian, and say, “Here’s my son. He’s yours until I keep my promises.” That’s outrageous. But in a sense, God did that. He gave us Jesus, His Son, as a guarantee, as a surety that He will do what He said. “Here’s my Son, He’s yours forever!” to guarantee that you and I will make it to heaven when life is over.

Jesus is our guarantee! God proved that He meant what He said. He signed it, sealed it, and sent the ultimate guarantee—the living Word. He is unchangeable. He guaranteed it forever. No limitations. No fine print. No tricky words. Jesus is the guarantee—forever!

That’s good news. You are going to make it home to heaven.

Day 210

Today’s Reading: Hebrews 6

An old Presbyterian preacher named Clarence Macartney made a keen observation about airplanes and the Christian life:

“Between an airplane and every other form of locomotion and transportation there is one great contrast. The horse and wagon, the automobile, the bicycle, the locomotive, the speedboat, and the great battleship—all can come to a standstill without danger, and they can all reverse their engines, or their power, and go back.

But there is no reverse about the engine of an airplane. It cannot back up. It dare not stand still. If it loses its momentum and forward-drives, then it crashes. The only safety for the airplane is in its forward and upward motion. The only safe direction for the Christian to take is forward and upward. If he stops, or if he begins to slip and go backward, that moment he is in danger.”

This is what the writer of Hebrews is speaking of in today’s chapter:

“Leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.” (Hebrews 6:1-2)

Let us press on to maturity. Those are the words for moving forward and upward. It is the challenge of growth for the Christian. Always remember that maturity is not a gift, it is a journey. Inventor Rowland Hill once watched a child riding a rocking-horse and remarked, “He reminds me of some Christians. There is plenty of motion but no progress.”

Hebrews 6 is a plea for progress. It seems that these new Christians got stuck. The writer says we should know the foundational principles of faith, repentance, and laying on of hands, and that we should not stall out on these issues but press on toward maturity. As The Message so aptly puts it: “So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ” (verse 1).

It is easy to confuse maturity with experience. Experience is a wonderful thing but not always the best teacher. There’s nothing more tragic than when the years don’t match the maturity.

A group of tourists were visiting a European village and walked by an old man sitting. With a patronizing tone, one tourist asked him, “Were any great men born in this village?” The old man replied, “Nope, only babies.”

Every born-again believer starts life as a baby in Christ. Whether the new convert is six or sixty, that person is still a new Christian and needs to grow in the Lord. A baby Christian who has been saved for forty years is a tragedy. God intends for us to grow and mature so we can be a positive influence in the lives of others. Until we learn to dig into the meat of the Word for ourselves, we will never grow.

Amy Carmichael once penned these thoughts:

“Sometimes when we read the words of those who have been more than conquerors, we feel almost despondent. I feel that I shall never be like that. But they won through step by step, by little bits of wills, little denials of self, little inward victories, by faithfulness in very little things. . . . No one sees these little hidden steps. They only see the accomplishment, but even so, those small steps were taken. There is no sudden triumph on spiritual maturity.”

That is the work of the moment. Maturity comes through taking small steps, introducing new habits, and stopping bad ones. In one Peanuts comic strip, Sally was struggling with her memory verse for Sunday, when she finally remembered, “Maybe it was something from the book of Reevaluation.” I think every time we read the Bible, it should be in the book of "re-evaluation" for us to see if we are growing.

In most homes that have children present, you’ll usually find a growth chart. It keeps track of each child’s measurements. As a child ages, the body receives messages from the pituitary gland in the brain that tells it to get moving, it’s time to grow up. There’s nothing the child can do to stop or start the growth, it happens naturally. I wish the same were true spiritually. I wish once we become a Christian, our growth becomes automatic, but it doesn’t. There is no special gland to help us grow spiritually as Christians.

What if we did have a spiritual growth chart? If you could measure your spiritual growth in inches, how many inches have you grown in the last three to four years?

How much taller are you standing today spiritually from where you were last year?

What does growth and maturity look like? I think this story defines it for us.

A group of women who were studying the Bible together were puzzled by the words of Malachi 3:3: “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver” (KJV). One of the ladies decided to call a silversmith to see if he could explain. That week she visited a silversmith and asked him to explain the process of refining silver. After he described the process, she asked, “Do you sit while the work of refining is going on?”

“Oh yes,” he replied. “I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace. For if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver is sure to be injured.”

At once she saw the beauty and comfort of the expression, He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. As the lady was leaving the shop, the silversmith called her back with one more piece of information. “I only know when the process of purifying is complete by seeing my own image reflected in the silver.”

As Joseph Exell explains:

“Christ sees it needful to put His children into the furnace, but He is seated by the side of it, His eye is steadily on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for them. Their trials do not come at random. When Christ’s image is reflected in us, His work of purifying is accomplished.”

Day 209

Today’s Reading: Hebrews 5

In talking about the power of mentoring, UCLA’s great basketball coach, John Wooden wrote:

“[President Abraham] Lincoln fiercely believed in self-sufficiency, and in the maturity and character that struggles and hardships can bring. This lesson is so important for teachers and parents. It is only natural for us to want to shield our students and our children from anything that might possibly cause them hurt or to suffer or even to be uncomfortable. But some degree of pain is necessary for a person to become suited for the responsibilities that lay ahead.”

Pain is necessary. Those are true but tough words to swallow. In today’s chapter we encounter a topic that is not often discussed in our culture. The writer of Hebrews speaks of a classroom that is often overlooked but more so avoided—the classroom of suffering. And we see that Father God was doing exactly what Lincoln and Wooden spoke about with His Son Jesus: “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

Suffering and learning. These are words we don’t normally associate together. Suffering and learning are partners, and they are integral in the life of Jesus.

Malcolm Muggeridge, one of the great British Christian writers, did not come to faith until later in life. His words on suffering and learning are powerful:

“Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful with particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my experience, has been through affliction and not through happiness.

Amy Carmichael can attest to that. Carmichael was a missionary to India in the early 1900s. She was the originator of the safe house, rescuing young girls at a time when the world did not know about the horrific exploitation of them. She did this at the risk of her own life.

In 1932, Carmichael was badly injured in a fall, which broke her leg and twisted her spine, and which left her mostly bedridden and in constant pain for the next twenty years until her death. Rarely did she sleep through a night without waking up in pain. However, while bedridden, Carmichael wrote sixteen books that are filled with awe-inspiring revelation. All coming from a fall, sleepless nights, and back pain. We could learn from her suffering.

Helen Keller said, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” Those are the learners. We try to avoid pain instead of learning from pain, which leads us to where we waste our pain. A. W. Tozer was spot on when he said: “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”

Our Daily Bread tells the story of A. Parnell Bailey who toured an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was in a drought, and the trees were beginning to die. Next Bailey visited another orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. “These trees could go without rain for another two weeks,” the man giving Bailey the tour told him. “When they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship and pain caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth.”

That’s what happens in pain, we learn to go deeper in God. Pain takes us deeper so we are not hurt by the pain but have learned to draw our resources from a place of depth. As Mildred Witte Struven explained: “A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain.”

I want to be porcelain. I want to come out of the struggle with depth and value that wasn’t there before the struggle and pain.

Robert B. Hamilton’s poem called “Sufferings” captures it well:

“I walked a mile with Pleasure;

She chatted all the way;

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow,

And ne’er a word said she;

But, oh! The things I learned from her,

When sorrow walked with me.”

Day 208

Today’s Reading: Hebrews 4

The second most difficult book in the Bible to understand is Hebrews, because of its assumption that the reader is familiar with the Old Testament. It is dependent upon reader’s understanding of the book of Leviticus and it is written to Jews who would know this book completely. The two key words in the book are sacrifices and priest. In today’s culture, we are not familiar with the concept of priesthood and sacrifices.

The basic premise of Hebrews is that these Jews were getting tired of the battles that go along with being a Christian. The more secular the world becomes, the more at odds we appear to be. The more we are committed to Christ, the more we experience conflict and collision. Some of these Hebrew believers were being persecuted and even their property was being taken from them. These new Christians’ wondered, How can we make it? Is it worth it? They were considering going back to the world and back to their old ways.

The author of Hebrews had one simple message to give them: Jesus. He wanted them to know they had a friend in high places who would get them through because He really understands what they were experiencing:

“We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)

That message is still true today: you are not alone. You have Someone with you and He is Someone who has been through what you are going through. The Message says it like this:

“We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.”

Wow! We serve a Jesus who has experienced it all. Why is this important? Charles Spurgeon said it well: “A Jesus who never wept could never wipe away my tears.”

Is this really true? Does Jesus understand what you are going through because He has been through it Himself? Jesus doesn’t just know what you are going through, He knows what it’s like to go through it. This makes Him a personal Savior. There is nothing you have gone through that He has not gone through in some form or fashion.

He understands what it is to be let down by friends.

He understands betrayal.

He understands fear and wanting to quit.

He knows the pain of losing loved ones.

He understands having someone close to Him murdered.

Just to name a few.

He found out what it’s like to discover your life is on the clock. (Some hear it like this: “You have cancer; you have three months to live.”)

He was a carpenter. He knows what it is to work a 9-5 job. He had deadlines and work orders.

He knew homelessness: Jesus said, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20).

Jesus knew what it’s like to cry out to God and ask why when things got tough: He said on the cross: “My God, My God, why . . .?” (Matthew 27:46).

So what is the result of having this kind of Jesus? The writer of Hebrews tells us in the first word of the next verse: Therefore. It means, “here’s the reason” I just told you what I told you. Hebrews 4:16 reads: “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

He says, now that you know you have a High Priest who understands the pain of life, what are you going to do about it? And he gives the answer: “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.” The King James Version says we are to “come boldly.” That says it all. In other words, we can approach God with frankness, bluntness. We can be open, plain, and daring—telling it like it is. We can have freedom in what we say. We can speak unreservedly. It’s real talk. It is going to Jesus, not trying to impress Him, but telling him, “This is who I am, and this is what I am going through, and this is how I feel.”

You say things like, “I am afraid,” “I don’t want to die,” “I don’t want to live,” “I can’t go on another day,” “I’m through with this marriage.”

The more you know Jesus, the more you can be real with Him. “Jesus loves you as you are not as you ought to be.” (Brennan Manning)

And He knows you! So you don’t have to pretend with Him.

We can go to the throne boldly. Or as The Message puts it, “So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give.” How can we do that? We have the Son who understands and will take us to the Father.

Did you know there was a time in American history when any citizen could go to see the president? At the end of the Civil War, a dejected Confederate soldier was sitting outside the grounds of the White House. A young boy approached and asked what was wrong. The soldier explained that he had repeatedly tried to see President Lincoln and had been unable to do so. He wanted to tell the president that his farm in the South had been unfairly taken by the Union soldiers. But each time he tried to enter the White House, the guards turned him away.

The boy motioned to the soldier to follow him. When they approached the guarded entrance, the soldiers came to attention, stepped back, and opened the door for the boy. He proceeded to the library where the president was resting and introduced the soldier to his father.

The boy was Tad Lincoln. He was the son of the President of the United States.

The soldier had gained access to the president through the president’s son. How much more should we rejoice in our access to the grace of the King of kings? We are connected to the Son and He can get us in to see the Father in tough times. The Son allows us to walk right up to Him.