New Testament in a Year

We must continue to trust God

¹⁹ So then, Christian friends, we see that Jesus died as a sacrifice on our behalf. Because of that, we may go into God's Most Holy Place. We are not afraid to do that. ²⁰ Jesus has opened a new way for us to come near to God. That way gives us life with God. It leads us through the curtain into God's Most Holy Place. Jesus opened that curtain for us when he offered his own body to God as a sacrifice.^{[a] 21} We have a great priest who rules the people of God's house. ²² So we should come near to God and we should not be afraid. But we must be honest and we must continue to trust him. He has made us clean from the dirt of our sins. Our thoughts no longer give us trouble about our sins. We have become clean. It is like he has washed our bodies with clean water.^[b]

²³ We know that we can trust God to do the things that he has promised. So we must continue to expect those things. We must tell other people that we trust God. We should not stop doing that. ²⁴ We should think about how we can help one another. We want everyone to show love to each other. We want everyone to do good things to help one another. ²⁵ Some people have stopped meeting with the group of Christians. But that is not good. We should all continue to meet together. We need to help one another to be strong and brave. That is now even more important, because the Lord's great day is coming. You know that the Lord will return soon.

We must not turn away from Jesus Christ

²⁶ Now that we have learned what is true, we must continue to believe in Jesus. If we know God's true message, but we still choose to do wrong things, God will not forgive us. There is no other sacrifice that will take away our sins. ²⁷ We know that God will judge us, and that will make us very afraid. Because we know that God will punish everyone who is against him. That punishment will be a very hot fire that destroys people. ²⁸ In the old agreement, anyone who refused to obey Moses' rules had to die. If two or three people said that he had done a bad thing, that person had to die. They would not forgive him.^[c]

²⁹ So think about a person who has turned against the Son of God. That person's punishment will surely be much worse! He says that Christ's sacrifice has no value for him. He has made God's new agreement seem like something bad. It was Christ's death on the cross that made that person clean, so that he belonged to God. But now that person has insulted God's Spirit, who brings God's kind help to us. ³⁰ We know God and his message. And God said this: ‘I am the one who will punish people for their sins. I will give them the punishment that they ought to receive.’^[d] God also said this: ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ ³¹ Yes, if God takes hold of you to punish you, that will make you very afraid! He is the powerful God who lives for ever.^[e]

³² Remember what happened to you in those early days. When you first understood the message about Christ, you had many troubles. But you continued to be strong. ³³ Sometimes people insulted you. They made you ashamed in front of other people. Sometimes you chose to help other Christians who had trouble like that. Their troubles became your troubles. ³⁴ You were kind to Christians who were in prison. When people took away your own things, you still chose to be happy. You knew that you had something better that would belong to you for ever.^[f]

³⁵ So continue to be strong in your thoughts. If you continue to trust God, you will receive great things. ³⁶ You need to be patient and strong. Then you will continue to do what God wants. As a result, you will receive what God has promised. ³⁷ This is what the Bible says:

³⁹ But we are not like those people who are afraid and who turn back. If we were, God would destroy us. But we are people who continue to trust God. And so, our lives are safe with God.