Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.

For the Law of Moses could not make anything perfect. And now a better hope has been provided through which we come near to God.

But as for me, how wonderful to be near God, to find protection with the Sovereign LORD and to proclaim all that he has done!

The Lord said, "These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized.

Their ruler will come from their own nation, their prince from their own people. He will approach me when I invite him, for who would dare come uninvited? They will be my people, and I will be their God. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites!

He committed the same sins as his father and was not completely loyal to the LORD his God, as his great-grandfather David had been.

(SEE 12:23)

And to Solomon he said, "My son, I charge you to acknowledge your father's God and to serve him with an undivided heart and a willing mind. He knows all our thoughts and desires. If you go to him, he will accept you; but if you turn away from him, he will abandon you forever.

I know that you test everyone's heart and are pleased with people of integrity. In honesty and sincerity I have willingly given all this to you, and I have seen how your people who are gathered here have been happy to bring offerings to you.

I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the wonderful things you have done.

You that are righteous, be glad and rejoice because of what the LORD has done. You that obey him, shout for joy!

Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me.

The LORD is our protector and glorious king, blessing us with kindness and honor. He does not refuse any good thing to those who do what is right.

Justice will again be found in the courts, and all righteous people will support it.

Praise the LORD! With all my heart I will thank the LORD in the assembly of his people.

Happy are those who follow his commands, who obey him with all their heart.

As I learn your righteous judgments, I will praise you with a pure heart.

With all my heart I try to serve you; keep me from disobeying your commandments.

Explain your law to me, and I will obey it; I will keep it with all my heart.

I ask you with all my heart to have mercy on me, as you have promised!

The proud have told lies about me, but with all my heart I obey your instructions.

May I perfectly obey your commandments and be spared the shame of defeat.

With all my heart I call to you; answer me, LORD, and I will obey your commands!

Pay close attention, son, and let my life be your example.

And after all this, Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, only pretended to return to me; she was not sincere. I, the LORD, have spoken."

I will give them the desire to know that I am the LORD. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with all their heart.

You have no part or share in our work, because your heart is not right in God's sight.

Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling; and do it with a sincere heart, as though you were serving Christ.

We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus.

Jesus answered, "I assure you that if you believe and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I have done to this fig tree. And not only this, but you will even be able to say to this hill, 'Get up and throw yourself in the sea,' and it will.

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

I assure you that whoever tells this hill to get up and throw itself in the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

For this reason I tell you: When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.

In union with Christ and through our faith in him we have the boldness to go into God's presence with all confidence.

But when you pray, you must believe and not doubt at all. Whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea that is driven and blown about by the wind.

This, then, is how we will know that we belong to the truth; this is how we will be confident in God's presence.

And so, my dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have courage in God's presence.

We receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a burnt calf are sprinkled on the people who are ritually unclean, and this purifies them by taking away their ritual impurity.

Since this is true, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God.

First, Moses proclaimed to the people all the commandments as set forth in the Law. Then he took the blood of bulls and goats, mixed it with water, and sprinkled it on the book of the Law and all the people, using a sprig of hyssop and some red wool.

It was faith that made him establish the Passover and order the blood to be sprinkled on the doors, so that the Angel of Death would not kill the first-born sons of the Israelites.

You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel.

He shall sprinkle the blood seven times on the one of you who is to be purified from your skin disease, and then he shall pronounce you clean. He shall let the live bird fly away over the open fields.

in the following way: sprinkle them with the water of purification and have them shave their whole bodies and have them wash their clothes. Then they will be ritually clean.

In the first case, someone who is ritually clean is to take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, everything in it, and the people who were there. In the second case, someone who is ritually clean is to sprinkle the water on those who had touched the human bone or the dead body or the grave.

On the third day and on the seventh the person who is ritually clean is to sprinkle the water on the unclean persons. On the seventh day he is to purify those, who, after washing their clothes and pouring water over themselves, become ritually clean at sunset.

But now many nations will marvel at him, and kings will be speechless with amazement. They will see and understand something they had never known."

I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you.

You were chosen according to the purpose of God the Father and were made a holy people by his Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be purified by his blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure.

When they heard this, they all left, one by one, the older ones first. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still standing there.

Such teachings are spread by deceitful liars, whose consciences are dead, as if burnt with a hot iron.

If our conscience condemns us, we know that God is greater than our conscience and that he knows everything.

since they have to do only with food, drink, and various purification ceremonies. These are all outward rules, which apply only until the time when God will establish the new order.

"Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of my presence, and have them take a ritual bath.

Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and had them take a ritual bath.

"Then I took water and washed the blood off you. I rubbed olive oil on your skin.

I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you.

"When that time comes," says the LORD Almighty, "a fountain will be opened to purify the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem from their sin and idolatry.

I baptize you with water to show that you have repented, but the one who will come after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He is much greater than I am; and I am not good enough even to carry his sandals.

"I am telling you the truth," replied Jesus, "that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.

Peter declared, "Never at any time will you wash my feet!" "If I do not wash your feet," Jesus answered, "you will no longer be my disciple."

Jesus said, "Those who have taken a bath are completely clean and do not have to wash themselves, except for their feet. All of you are clean---all except one."

Some of you were like that. But you have been purified from sin; you have been dedicated to God; you have been put right with God by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

All these promises are made to us, my dear friends. So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in awe of God.

He did this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water,

he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us.

which was a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing off of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world. He loves us, and by his sacrificial death he has freed us from our sins