The reality of the 'new life' we find in Christ is an ongoing subject because it is such a deep, ongoing revelation. This is the last post that I will blog in this series for now, but obviously it will not be the last article that hinges on this revelation.
Today, I would like to share what I believe to be one of the greatest revelations of my lifetime. It demonstrates just how great was our Lord's sacrifice on the cross and just how powerful His blood remains forevermore. I mentioned in the last two posts that when I was first born again the fact that I had became a new creature was quickly made evident to me. This new identity meant that now I would identify with Christ and his suffering on the cross for me. Over time, I came to recognize I was no longer bound by the guilt of sin, my sins or the sins of anyone else. I could walk away free from the pain of rejection and grief because Jesus had borne my griefs, carried my sorrows, and suffered rejection for me.
Now, this next truth is so huge that it completely shook me to the core. Not only had I been delivered from my sins and the hurt inflicted upon me by others, but I had been completely loosed from fear of future sins! Yes, that's right! Jesus' blood didn't just cleanse enough sins to get us temporary right with the Father, but He bore all our sin, past, present, and future!
At first, I was taught by the church that God forgave us of all our past sins. This made us new; However, afterwards, we could be tainted by future sins. We then had to continually examine ourselves, confess our sins, and be cleansed all over again. What a rut this put me in! I was doing all I knew in order to be holy, and for the most part, I lived right, but as soon as I thought an evil thought or argued with my husband, which happened quite often, I came under the condemnation of having not performed quite perfectly. The church also taught us that sin put a rift in our relationship with God and that if we took communion in this 'fallen' state, we were in danger of sickness or death. If we tried to worship God with sin in our heart, our worship was like Cain's gift to God and not received.
Can you imagine my intimacy level with God? I was so paranoid about sinning that I was continually 'checking my heart'. If I felt the presence of God one day and not the next, I was questioning God trying to find out what I had done wrong. I would repent before taking communion, even if I could find no fault. I felt continually dirty.
Finally, I reached a place where I thought I had mastered the 'repentance system' and was better than most Christians. I became self-righteous and judgmental. My husband was not perfect, as no person is, so I constantly tried to 'convict' him of his sins so that he would not be tainted and go to hell. Our marriage was falling apart all over again. Only this time I didn't know where to turn since the blood of Jesus had not been good enough. We went to counseling, but nothing helped. It wasn't until we understood this truth that things began to change.
It took years for me to find out the truth, but thanks to teachings from Andrew Wommack and Joseph Prince, God was able to get the message over to me, save my marriage, and change my household! When I saw that God was not keeping record of my sins, that when He said that my "sins and lawless deeds" He would "remember no more" that He really meant it, my entire world was changed!
God has already judged our sins when he poured out his wrath on Jesus on the cross! Jesus was made sin for us. Now we can rest assured that we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21) no matter what we do!
Some people try to defend their right to be a low-down, dirty, old sinner. I don't know about you, but it gives me much more peace knowing that if I mess up, God hasn't just swiped a tally mark against me in the great book. God is just. Why would he judge my sins on the cross, then judge them again on me? Justice has been served! Christ died, now we are risen again with Him, seated with Him in the heavenly above sin! (See Ephesians 1:20-21; 2:6-10!) Hallelujah!!!
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:1-2
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