Freedom From Sin

“It is a fact that the Lord Jesus has already died for you. It is also a fact that you have already died with the Lord Jesus. If you do not believe in your death with Christ, you will not be able to receive the effectiveness of death with Him – freedom from sin.” 

Watchman Nee

I can’t quite remember if it was a vision or a dream, but some time ago I found myself before my Heavenly Father. He said He was pleased with me and thanked me for things I’d done, said and spoken.

I kept apologising for all the wrong things I had done and said. Things I didn’t do very well and situations I could have handled better.

God wouldn’t acknowledge what I was saying, it was like He couldn’t hear me, He was ignoring me. 

I went on and on but He would just respond with all the good things I’d done.

I got frustrated waiting for a response to my apology until He eventually said, “as far as the east is from the west, I have removed your sin. I dealt with this on the cross, so why are you bringing it up?” (Psalm 103:12)

We can be so aware of our humanity that we forget the incredible gift from God that makes us holy and acceptable to Him. The New Testament repeatedly speaks of the pardoning of our sins through Jesus, reconciling us to God.

And such were some of you [before you believed]. But you were washed [by the atoning sacrifice of Christ], you were sanctified [set apart for God, and made holy], you were justified [declared free of guilt] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God [the source of the believer’s new life and changed behaviour]. 1 Corinthians 6:11 (AMP)

Notice, these scriptures are past tenses.

“He has removed our sins.” (Psalm 103:12 NLT) “You were washed….you were sanctified…… You were justified.” (1 Cor 6:11 AMP)

It’s already done! We are clean. Our sins have been deleted, erased, eliminated, eradicated, abolished, by the powerful blood of Jesus! Praise God!

But do you ever feel the need to highlight your mistakes, or do you struggle to believe God can forgive you?

Do you ever feel like the Apostle Paul when he writes; 

“And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t  I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.  But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.” Romans 7:18-20 (NLT)

Or perhaps your response when God “turns up” in a meeting is like Simon Peter;

“Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” Luke 5:8 (NLT)

God’s Mercy Is Greater Than Our Sin

The feelings of guilt, shame, failure and embarrassment are big contenders that lock down many Christians to the point that they never feel they can enter into the presence of God. 1 John reminds us that God’s mercy is so much greater than our sin.

“Whenever our hearts make us feel guilty and remind us of our failures, we know that God is much greater and more merciful than our conscience, and he knows everything there is to know about us. Whenever our hearts make us feel guilty and remind us of our failures, we know that God is much greater and more merciful than our conscience, and he knows everything there is to know about us.” 1 John 3:21 (TPT)

I love what the Passion Translation says about this scripture in the footnotes…

“There is a higher courtroom for the human heart: it is where grace is enthroned. The very worst that is in us is known by God and he still showers mercy, love, and acceptance upon us. This is the greatness of God’s grace. He sees beyond the sin of a moment and sees the holy affections of love in those who refuse to turn away from him.”

Wow!

It is imperative that we not only believe, but embrace the Word of God. This is God’s Word to all of us and that includes YOU.  Don’t disqualify yourself when God’s Word about you says otherwise.

Start seeing yourself as God sees you. You’re loved by Him, you’re forgiven….

“…you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 (NLT)

The Cross Is A Finished Reality 

He died once, for all of mankind, past, present & future.

“For it is Christ’s love that fuels our passion and motivates us, because we are absolutely convinced that he has given his life for all of us. This means all died with him.” 2 Cor 5:14 (TPT)

My friend, author and speaker, Dan McCollam says it this way, 

“Christ died, not only for me, but AS ME.”

Hebrews 6:3-6 confirms this by saying,

“Have you forgotten that all of us who were immersed into union with Jesus, the Anointed One, were immersed into union with his death?  Sharing in his death by our baptism means that we were co-buried and entombed with him, so that when the Father’s glory raised Christ from the dead, we were also raised with him. We have been co-resurrected with him so that we could be empowered to walk in the freshness of new life. For since we are permanently grafted into him to experience a death like his, then we are permanently grafted into him to experience a resurrection like his and the new life that it imparts.” (TPT)

The Apostle Paul remind us in Colossians that when we accepted Jesus into our life, our old life died with Christ.

“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Col 3:3 (NIV)

The harsh reality is that when we sin, it is because we have given permission for sin.  It is our flesh that gives power to sin. This is why our constant prayer and declaration to our flesh has to be as Paul said in Galatians,

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20 (NIV)

If you’ve been a Christian for a while this may be second nature to you.  But I want to challenge you….do you believe it and do you live it? 

The Gift Of Salvation

Have you ever come across someone who you’ve taken out for lunch or an evening meal but when it comes to paying the bill they will not let you pay their share. They fight you for it until it becomes somewhat embarrassing as you tell them to put their money away. Maybe you are the person who struggles to let others bless you and feel you have to pay your way.

Many of us can be like this in our relationship with Jesus.  He’s paid the “bill” so that He can dine with us and have a relationship with us.  

The cross is a gift of grace and love. I love how Paul sums this up in the book of Ephesians.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph 2:1-10 (NIV)