I grew up in a strict fundamentalist Baptist church in Savannah, GA. The church was the largest in the city at the time and also served as a venue for Christian concerts and productions. All through my adolescent years I remember a variety of preachers and musicians who were invited as guests for Sunday worship. Many were brought in for special occasions like revivals. All of them had testimonies to share. In our church, we loved to hear stories of redemption, but if we were the ones making the mistakes, it was the biggest and the worst and we would have to work for forgiveness and prove ourselves again and again. We even had a guest preacher entitle his sermon, “Show me, don’t tell me.” This encouraged such ongoing feelings of frustration and guilt that I felt I was somehow losing the love and favor of God every time I messed up and as a result, slipping further and further away. It made me feel condemned and like a failure, and as a result, I worked harder than ever to earn God’s forgiveness. The same forgiveness that according to Ephesians, He offers to us as a free gift.
The funny thing is, I’m not alone. I’ve heard from people a lot over the years about how condemned they feel. This comes not only from the non-believers, but also from Christians. They have a hard time getting past their mistakes and failures. It seems to be a common feeling that most of us experience at one time or other. I bet a lot of you have tried and tried to earn God’s favor and to make up for your mistakes by making God promises that you’ll try to keep so you can do better. Unfortunately, this almost always leads us back into a defeated cycle of works, which is doing things through our own self-effort to be pleasing to God. See, people like to be self-righteous. It’s hard for us to hear that we can’t fix our sin by doing something to make it better. Or that we should be forgiven forever without us having to do something about it. But we can’t. We’re helpless to fix our situation. That’s why Jesus had to take that penalty from us. Let me say this clearly: You cannot earn or deserve the love and forgiveness of God. He gives it to your freely through belief in Jesus as your Savior and Lord. That goes for non-believers and Christians alike. Back in the Old Testament, the Israelites had been delivered from Egypt and had been wandering around in the wilderness and finally made it to the foot of Mount Sinai. This whole time, they had been grumbling and complaining about different things, but God showed them His mercy and grace and provided food when they were hungry, water when they were thirsty, protection from the sun as a pillar of clouds, and warmth from the cold desert nights as a pillar of fire. At Mount Sinai, God reminded them about how He had delivered them from Pharaoh with mighty power and signs and wonders. He told them if they would keep His commandments, that He would make them His special treasure, and a kingdom of priests to Him forever. Now remember, God already knew their hearts. He knew how quickly they were forgetting what He did for them. This was a test. The Israelites responded back that any commandment that God gave them, they could keep. I don’t know if you can hear the arrogance in their voices. In Hebrew, it is very clear that they were determined to set aside His provision and grace and keep every law by their own self-effort. They could have waited to find out what the covenant would be before they responded. They could have said, “We haven’t been able to survive out here without You! There’s no way we can keep a commandment if You don’t help us.” There was a decided change in the way God began to handle them after this. Next, He told Moses that no one could approach the mountain, or they would die. He spoke through a thick cloud and there was thunder and lightning. This is when the old covenant came into being. Under the Old Covenant, this covenant God made with Moses when He gave the Ten Commandments, every act of sin would have to be atoned for. That’s why the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy have rules and consequences for breaking those laws. We call them the books of the Law. Under the Law, a person who sinned had a penalty they had to meet. If they stole, they had to replace what was stolen (usually up to five times as much), if they killed, they faced death. For other sins, they had to offer an unblemished animal to be sacrificed in their place. Hebrews 9 verse 22 says that without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins. So, let’s look back at Hebrews chapter 9, verse 7: “but into the second [inner tabernacle, the Holy of Holies], only the high priest enters [and then only] once a year, and never without [bringing a sacrifice of] blood, which he offers [as a substitutionary atonement] for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.” This is what the Old Testament priests did to atone for the sins of the people every year. It was a lot. And keep in mind, this law was given not for salvation, but to make people aware of what sin is. It was never intended to save us. It is good, it is holy, but it is unbending. This is where salvation through Jesus comes in. We cannot save ourselves, but He can! He offers us salvation as a free gift by believing in Him as Savior and Lord. Once we have done that, we are free from the condemnation of the Law. Romans chapter 8 says this, (from the Amplified version of the Bible) “Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior]. For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do [that is overcome sin and remove its penalty, its power] being weakened by the flesh [man’s nature without the Holy Spirit], God did: He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful man as an offering for sin. And He condemned sin in the flesh [subdued it and overcame it in the person of His own Son], so that the [righteous and just] requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not live our lives in the ways of the flesh [guided by worldliness and our sinful nature], but [live our lives] in the ways of the Spirit [guided by His power]. In other words, Jesus took the penalty for the sins we committed: past, present, and future. The Father had to punish sin because it broke His beautiful, perfect, and holy law, and caused destruction and consequences to the very ones He loved so much: people. Thankfully, Jesus came to be our permanent High Priest. I talked about how the Old Testament priests had to offer sacrifices yearly for the forgiveness of the sins of themselves and people. But through Jesus’ own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, and secured our eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls was a temporary sacrifice for people’s cleansing. But when our Lord shed His blood, it was permanent and much, much more powerful because through the eternal Spirit He offered Himself without blemish to God, to cleanse our conscience from dead works and to serve the living God. So instead, Jesus became our sacrifice. Our lamb. Our High Priest. It’s all about His finished work on the cross and not about our self-effort or self-righteousness. God righteously judged sin in the body of Jesus when He hung on the cross. That means He will not judge you for your sins again. To do so would be unjust and God is not unjust. Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice.” In other words, you won’t be punished for your mistakes and failures. I bet that put a new thought in your mind: What? So, no one will be punished? Well, not exactly. For the non-believer, they are still under condemnation. Remember the passage we read earlier said for “those who are in Christ Jesus.” If a person does not believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord, he or she will still face judgement. But the final judgement will not be about the individual sins that are committed. It will be about whether they chose to be in a relationship with Jesus and receive His free gift of salvation. To ultimately reject Jesus is to consign your life to destruction. Think about the Pharisees. They lived lives devoted to God. They were responsible for keeping the Law and interpreting it. They went as far as tithing a tenth of their herbs and wore special shoes on the Sabbath so that a nail from their shoes wouldn’t dig a trench, thus creating work when they should be resting. And yet, they not only rejected Jesus, they rejoiced to see Him put to death. They had no love in their hearts for Him. All because He revealed that their self-righteousness wasn’t good enough and that they needed to believe in Him. So, what about us as believers? What does this mean? It means that even when we do sin, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Remember the woman who was caught in adultery and thrown down at Jesus’ feet? The Pharisees were using her as a way to test Jesus to see what He would do. See, according to the law, since she was caught in adultery, the penalty was stoning. So Jesus could very well have said, stone her, she’s guilty. However, He simply answered the Pharisees, “whoever of you is without sin, cast the first stone.” Not a one of them did! They knew they were guilty of sin too. They all cleared out in a big hurry. He asked the woman who was left to condemn her. She had to answer, no one. But remember what Jesus did that was so remarkable? He looked at her and said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” What grace and love and gentleness! Our Lord told us that He did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. So here is a beautiful of example of a woman who believed Him and accepted His free gift. While the bible is quiet about whether she went back to her lifestyle of sin, I don’t believe she did. I believe she was changed by His mercy toward her. If we choose to reject His mercy and grace and continue in our sin, we open the door for the very thing we want to avoid… condemnation. This may have stirred up some questions: Shouldn’t I ask for forgiveness again and again when I mess up? Yes, so long as you understand that you are forgiven already. As a Christian, when we ask for forgiveness, we aren’t so much asking to be forgiven as we are opening a door to conversation with the Lord about how we understand our mistake and talk about how He will restore us. It’s a relationship where we can admit our failures without fear and be open to our Father’s tender mercy and healing touch. Besides, confession is good for the soul. It frees us from the burden and guilt that we carry around. And it frees us to ask forgiveness from others that we wronged. And here’s another thought for you: as a Christian, you are no longer a sinner. Your identity is now a son or daughter; a believer in Jesus who is a joint heir with Him (Romans 8:17). You will mess up because you won’t be perfect until we get to heaven. But that just isn’t who you are. When the Father looks at you, He sees His child who was bought by the sacrifice of His beloved Son. He sees the blood that Jesus shed for you and remembers how Jesus took your place on the cross. Because you believe, you are holy and righteous like Jesus. Let’s look at some more verses that will confirm this: 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 1 John 4:16-17 says, “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the Day of Judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” And 1 John 5:18 says, “We know that anyone born of God does not habitually sin; but He (meaning Jesus) who was born of God keeps and protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” So, if I’m forgiven past, present, and future, does it really matter if I sin? After all, it’s clear I’m forgiven anyway. I can tell you it absolutely matters! First, a person who truly has a relationship with Jesus should not want to intentionally sin. Sin always hurts someone else, even if you think you’re only affecting yourself. From my own experience, I can tell you that when I realize what I’ve done, I’m deeply grieved, especially by the hurt I’ve caused. The sacrifice of our Lord which paid for our sins and failures was tremendous and we cannot take it for granted. Also, we will face a different judgment, unrelated to judgment of sins, called the Bema seat. This is where our actions as ambassadors for Christ during our lives determine our reward. In the NIV, Psalm 62:12 says, “and with You, Lord, is unfailing love;” and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.” And in Matthew 16:27 it says, “For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done.” This brings up my second point: while God has forgiven you and will not punish you for your sin, if you continue down this path, He will chastise you. Chastisement, or discipline, is intended to get your attention and bring you back to repentance. Hebrews 12:5-6 says, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” You might say, “Wait a minute, didn’t you just say He won’t punish us for our sins anymore?” Yes, I did. But chastisement is a preventative measure to help a person learn not to make the mistake again. It is the act of a parent toward a child. Which reminds me of a very memorable punishment my mother came up with to stop me and my sisters from lying. I admit it! As a child, I lied about stuff. I lied to get out of trouble, and I lied to get attention. My mother was so frustrated, that she came up with a tangible way for me to understand the damage I was doing to myself and others. She got a bar of Lava soap, sudsed it up, and washed my mouth out with it once she caught me in a lie. You would think the taste alone would be enough. However, she wanted me to remember the lesson. So, while I stood at the sink with the soap foaming in my mouth, she looked me in the eye and said with her voice of doom… “This is what a lie tastes like in the mouth of God!” I never forgot that illustration and did my best not to lie anymore. It definitely got my attention! That was an act of chastisement at its finest. Punishment, on the other hand, is an act of retribution meted out by a judge. As a Christian, you will not be judged, but you will be corrected. You are family and you are deeply loved. On a side note, if you have been abused by a family member, you might have some difficulty seeing the difference. Please understand that our Heavenly Father loves you and is not out to get you. Look at verse 11 of chapter 12: “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” I bet a lot of us can look back at our lives and say we have learned from being corrected. So what about the consequences of my sin? Does that mean I won’t have to face the consequences? Sorry, but once you made a decision to sin, you set things in motion to have consequences. You are free from condemnation and judgment, but you are not free from the effect of your actions. That is why sin is so awful. It always affects others. There will always be consequences to our sins, even if it takes them a while to manifest. However, you can ask the Lord to help you with the mess you made. Remember, He has already forgiven you and is waiting to pour out His love and mercy. He will help you through the storm and get you back on the right track. Speaking of the Lord helping us out of the mess we have made, think about Zacchaeus in the bible. He was not only a tax collector, but he had defrauded people of their money in excess of what they paid in taxes. This is why when he was changed by the grace and mercy of Jesus he said, “Behold Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” Zacchaeus hurt people, but the Lord got him on track. Jesus’ response to the situation was that salvation had come to that house! I want you to think back to the story of the prodigal son. This was a parable that Jesus told. The father in the story represents our Heavenly Father. Wouldn’t you agree that Jesus, who knew His Father intimately, would be able to describe Him the best? In the parable, the son demands his inheritance and runs off to pursue his passions. Eventually he winds up impoverished and starving. So he decides to throw himself on his father’s mercy and return home. He even recites what he’s going to say when he gets there: “Father, I have sinned against you and against heaven and I am not worthy to be called your son…” By the way, there is no evidence that the son is repentant. At this point, he’s motivated by hunger. Speaking of repentance, I want to touch on that, too. Repentance literally means to change your mind. It does not mean weep and wail and throw yourself on the floor to show how sorry you are. When you were a child and you apologized, your mother or father may have told you to “try it again, like you mean it.” They know if you are sincere in changing your mind and attitude. Just like that, when you have truly repented, you have changed your mind about doing something or changed your mind about how you thought about someone. That’s why part of salvation involves repentance. We have to change our minds about sin and change our minds about Jesus. When we choose Him as Savior and Lord, we have made a decision to trust Him instead of ourselves. We have made a decision to reject pursuing a life where we are rejecting God. Back to the story of the prodigal: The son is on his way back home where he hopes he will at least be welcomed as a servant. Meanwhile, the father has been waiting for him to return the whole time. He not only rejoices to see him, but he throws a huge celebration. The son did nothing to earn or deserve the father’s love, compassion and mercy. But the father loved him all the same and was delighted to have him back. That’s exactly how our Heavenly Father thinks about you and me. Remember, when He looks at us, He sees the sacrifice of Jesus and sees us as His children. I’m reminded of the song, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,” by Stuart Townend (1990). Check out YouTube.com to hear this beautiful song. Remember God is not angry with you and He’s extending a period of grace so that many can be saved. Let us pray: Our gracious, loving Father, thank You for sending Jesus to be the payment for our sins. Thank You that through His sacrifice we can come to You confidently and know that as believers we are forgiven and not under condemnation. We praise and honor You today for Your deep, deep love for us. In Jesus name, amen. Photo by Adriana Aceves on Unsplash
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Holly DaeMinister, musician, and teacher. Archives
October 2023
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