Level 3 • Lesson 10
No More Consciousness of Sin
By Don Krow
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One day a drunken man got into his automobile, started driving in the wrong direction, and had a head on collision with a party in another car. In this accident, a young eighteen-year-old girl was killed. The family of this girl sued the man and won $1.5 million in the lawsuit.

Instead of taking the money the family settled for $936. The reason was that they wanted the man to pay this sum in a specific manner. They wanted the man who had been drunk to remember what he had done. He was to write out a check, in the name of the girl he had killed, for one dollar each week and send it to the family. You would think that a settlement of $936 would be a good deal in the light of $1.5 million. At first paying the one dollar a week was easy, but after awhile, writing a check in the name of the girl he had killed began to dominate his thinking. Every week he went into depression, thinking about the girl he had killed.

After years of this, he finally quit making the payments. The family took him back to court and ordered him to resume making payments. In the last six or seven years, he quit making payments four or five times. However, each time he was taken back to court and again made to resume making payments.

The family said they were not angry anymore, but they just wanted to remind him of what he had done.

If you think about it, the family is in bondage as well as the man making the payments. Every week they get a check that reminds them of their loss, so in a sense, they can't put their daughter's death behind them either.

The man is now suing the family for what he calls "cruel and unusual punishment." He says, "This is killing me! It's destroying my life! I can never put the past behind me and go on with my life."

In light of this story, I have met a lot of Christians who feel they are under the same kind of judgment. They were told "Jesus paid it all," but still feel as if they have to make a weekly payment of religious duties, or God will not accept them.

Discipleship Questions
  1. What kind of relationship can this man have with the family while this kind of thing is going on?
    Answer
  2. Read Hebrews 10:1.
    "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect." - Hebrews 10:1
    What could the Law not do?
    Answer
  3. Read Hebrews 10:1.
    "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect." - Hebrews 10:1
    What does this verse say that gives us an indication that the sacrifices of the Old Testament were inadequate to make us perfect?
    Answer
  4. Read Hebrews 10:2.
    "For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." - Hebrews 10:2
    If a sacrifice came that could really deal with sin, what would it do for the worshippers?
    Answer
  5. What was the drunk driver forced to do?
    Answer
  6. Read Hebrews 10:14.
    "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." - Hebrews 10:14
    God perfects His people by:
    1. good works.
    2. going to church.
    3. keeping the Ten Commandments.
    4. the offering (sacrifice) of Jesus.
    Answer
  7. Read Hebrews 10:14.
    "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." - Hebrews 10:14
    Jesus' offering (received by faith) perfects the believer:
    1. until the next time they sin.
    2. from their past sins.
    3. forever.
    Answer
  8. Read Genesis 20:1‑18.
    "1And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. 4But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. 8Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. 12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. 14And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. 17So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife." - Genesis 20:1‑18
    Answer the following questions. Who are the two men mentioned in this story?
    Answer
  9. Read Genesis 20:2, 5.
    "2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this." - Genesis 20:2, 5
    Who was the man who lied and deceived the other in this story?
    Answer
  10. Read Genesis 20:7.
    "Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine." - Genesis 20:7
    I am sure that God did not approve of Abraham's actions. But who did God side with, Abraham or Abimelech?
    Answer
    Why? Read Genesis 15:1, 18.
    "1After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 18In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." - Genesis 15:1, 18
    Read James 2:23.
    "And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." - James 2:23
    Answer
  11. Read Genesis 20:7, 17‑18.
    "7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. 17So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife." - Genesis 20:7, 17‑18
    Even though Abraham was in the wrong, who did God say should pray for the other?
    1. Abraham was to pray for Abimelech.
    2. Abimelech was to pray for Abraham.
    3. They were to pray for each other.
    Answer
  12. Read Romans 8:31.
    "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8:31
    Even though we sometimes fail, who is on our side?
    Answer
  13. Read Romans 4:8.
    "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." - Romans 4:8
    Even though we make mistakes, what did God say He would not do?
    Answer
  14. Read Hebrews 8:12‑13.
    "12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." - Hebrews 8:12‑13
    In the New Covenant, what did God promise He would not do?
    Answer
  15. Read Ephesians 2:5, 8‑9.
    "5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast." - Ephesians 2:5, 8‑9
    How are we saved?
    Answer
  16. Read Titus 3:5.
    "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." - Titus 3:5
    How are we not saved?
    Answer
    How are we saved?
    Answer
  17. Read Ephesians 1:6.
    "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." - Ephesians 1:6
    We will praise God throughout all eternity for saving us by His grace. For He hath made us accepted in the beloved (Christ Jesus).
    Answer

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