If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left (Heb 10:26)

Wow! That looks scary! Let’s take a quick survey. Please put your hand up if you have lived a sinless life since accepting Jesus as your Savior. Hmmm. I don’t see any hands. I have been saved for decades and – if I’m honest with you – I cannot say my performance has been flawless throughout that period. I’m pretty sure I sinned this one time back in 1987…

Ha! It’s easy for me to make jokes. I’ve been set free. I no longer mine at the pits of religion with condemnation. I’m drawing from the wells of salvation with joy!

The wrong way to interpret Hebrews 10:26

All jokes aside, Hebrews 10:26 is an oft-abused scripture. If you wanted to use this verse to scare people, there are a couple of angles you could take:

1. You could use this verse to present a “balanced” view of God, like this: “He is a God of grace and He is a God of judgment. He’s not some senile Santa in the sky. He’s a God of vengeance and a consuming fire. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

2. You could also use this verse to preach works: “You will be judged according to the light of your revelation and those who have received the knowledge of the truth will be held to the highest standard. It’s time for judgment to begin in the house of God. If you fall away it is impossible to be brought back to repentance!”

What is the problem with these messages? Well if you listen to the first one you’re going to come away thinking that God is schizophrenic, at war with His own nature. He loves you, but He doesn’t. It’s unconditional love – with conditions. And if you listen to the second you will either end up a religious fraud or a nervous wreck. You may even wish that you had never heard the gospel because ignorance is bliss.

The tricky part with these false messages is that they are composed of true statements. Our God is a consuming fire. But the interpretation is all wrong. They are anti-cross and anti-Christ. Any message that tells you that God is double-minded or that the good news is bad news ought to be rejected. You know that, right? Good. So how do we read Hebrews 10:26?

Trampling the Son of God under foot

A key to unpackaging this scripture is to recall the audience. Hebrews was written for – surprise, surprise – Hebrews. It was for those who have grown up with the “elementary teachings” of the Old Covenant. In other words, the author writes for an informed audience. They know all about the law, sacrifices, and high priests. But what they may not appreciate is that the law was only a shadow of the good things to come. The law points to the true high priest Jesus and His eternally perfect sacrifice.

Hebrews was written to reveal Christ and His work so that we may “enter through the new and living way,” “go on to maturity,” and “draw near to God.” That last bit is the key. How do I know the two sermonettes above are carnal nonsense? Because neither will inspire you to draw near to God. Indeed, they will have the opposite effect.

Hebrews 10:26 describes those who have received the knowledge of the truth (i.e., they have heard the gospel) but they have rejected it. The writer compares those who reject grace with those who reject law:

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Heb 10:28-29)

This passage is not talking about Christians but those who, like Judas, have heard the truth and spurned it. Judas spent time in the company of the Lord. He not only heard the truth, he saw Grace and Truth in the flesh. But Judas rejected Jesus as Lord. He never saw Jesus as anything other than a rabbi. Calling Jesus “Rabbi” is a bit like calling the President “Mister,” only infinitely more so. It’s not just insulting, it’s unbelief.

Jesus came to give His life for Judas but Judas wasn’t interested. He preferred his own sinful life of greed and betrayal. I am sure Judas had many opportunities to repent (i.e., change his mind) and put his faith in Jesus, but he never did. He rejected the grace of God that could empower him to say no to sin.

Jesus died for Judas. What more could He do? There is nothing! There is no more sacrifice for sins other than the one Jesus provided. To reject Jesus as Lord is to trample the Son of God underfoot and treat the blood of the covenant as unholy.

How do you insult the Spirit of grace?

If I was to give you a free car out of the generosity of my heart, but you insisted on paying for it, I would be insulted. Similarly, we insult the Spirit of grace by trying to pay, with works and sacrifices, what God has freely given us. We may call it “proving our salvation” or “appropriating what God has given” but it is unbelief. It is like saying, “I don’t believe Jesus has done it all. I need to finish what He started.”

The wrong way to read Hebrews is to think that God is judging us on our performance. Over and over again Hebrews tells us that it is Jesus and His performance that matters. It is His sacrifice that made us holy, indeed, perfect forever (Heb 10:10-14). How can we interpret Hebrews 10:26 as a warning against sin when Hebrews 9:26 says that Christ appeared once for all “to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself”? Is His a finished work or isn’t it? If it is, then sin is no longer the problem. Where there is remission of sins, “there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” (Heb 10:18). The good news is that the Son of God is the once and final solution for sin. Because of Jesus, both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit choose to remember our sins no more (see Heb 8:12, 10:17).

The warning of Hebrews

In a forthcoming post I will look at Hebrews 6:4-6, which is another passage that bothers some. But the punch-line is the same. The main warning of Hebrews is not in regard to sin but unbelief:

So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Heb 3:19)

The Hebrews of Moses’ day never entered God’s rest because they hardened their hearts to His voice. In the New Testament era, many Jews were doing exactly the same thing. They received the knowledge of truth, they heard the gospel of grace, but they rejected it. They may not have said so in so many words, but by their actions they revealed their distrust.

For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. (Heb 4:2)

The author of Hebrews writes to stir up faith. Without it we cannot please God. With it we can come boldly to the throne of grace.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (Heb 10:39)

Some people hear the good news of God’s grace and shrink back. They cannot believe it. “It’s too good to be true,” they say. “I’d better cover myself by doing works.” Do you see the danger? You cannot cover yourself. This is idol-worship. You are elevating yourself to co-savior with Christ. You are insulting the Spirit of grace by trying to pay for what God has already given you. This is why sermons that put the emphasis on you and your performance are dangerous. Don’t buy into any message that purports to give you a list of keys or steps that will help you achieve/accomplish/appropriate what you already have. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and the sweat of men to take away sins and it is faithless to strive for what you already have (every good thing!).

According to Hebrews there are only two kinds of people; those who don’t enter because of their unbelief and those who believe and are saved. Sin is not the variable; faith is. Where does faith come from? Jesus! He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2). Fix your eyes on Him.
___
Related posts:
- Acts 21:17-26
- What happens to unfruitful branches?
- Do NIV readers have a sinful nature?

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey… (Exo 20:17)

Joseph could not afford either a decent place to stay or a lamb for the sacrifice, so the odds are that he didn’t own a donkey. So how did Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a distance of about 80 miles? She probably walked.

Right there all the mothers reading this just winced. She walked 80 miles pregnant? Seriously? Trust a man to leave an important detail like that out of his account. To be fair to Luke and the other gospel writers, we don’t know exactly how Mary got to Bethlehem. But I have a theory – a Christmas tale if you like. It begins with some good news…

The Gospel of Gabriel

Mary’s life was radically changed when an angel uttered the following words to her:

Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. (Lu 1:28)

At first Mary was troubled. I wouldn’t say it was disbelief so much as sheer incomprehension. “How can this be?” The favor of God is mind-boggling. Our minds cannot explain it. Happily, you don’t need to explain it to receive it. You just have to believe and Mary did. “May it be to me as you have said.” Boom – right there is faith. The grace-faith circuit complete, favor now begins to flow from heaven to Mary. Then the angel left.

Did you know that only two people in the Bible were regarded as highly favored? One of them is Mary, the other one is you. “He made us accepted (literally, highly favored) in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6). To the degree that Mary was favored, so are you. It’s perfectly fine to put Mary on a favor pedestal, as long as you put yourself right up there too. In Christ, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3).

It is significant that the angel did not leave right after he made his announcement. He waited until Mary had responded in faith. God’s favor was on her but she needed to believe it to receive it. So do you and I. We need to cultivate the habit of seeing ourselves as God sees us – highly favored and deeply loved.

Mary’s mystery marathon

So how did Mary get to Bethlehem? I can’t prove it, but I suspect a miracle took place. Perhaps it was something like what God did when He brought the Israelites out of slavery:

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (Exo 19:4)

No, I don’t think Mary and Joseph hitched a ride on real eagles – this isn’t The Lord of the Rings. When God says He carried them on eagle’s wings He’s saying I brought you to myself swiftly and easily. My hunch is that Mary and Joseph walked effortlessly and without trouble. They journeyed under a Middle Eastern sun without fainting or growing weary because God “gives power to the weak” (Is 40:29). When it came time to deliver history’s most famous baby, Mary wasn’t worn out from completing back-to-back marathons. She was full of abundant life and the picture of health. At least that’s how she looks on the Christmas cards.

Bethlehem means “the house of bread.” At the house of bread Mary and Joseph came face-to-face with the Bread of Life. So in a sense, God had brought them to Himself for it was in Bethlehem that they first laid eyes on their Savior Jesus.

What relevance does Mary’s journey have for us today? Mary’s journey is the same journey you made when you got saved. When you got born again, you walked on Mary’s Trail. Think about it. Some “angel” told you the good news of God’s favor, you wondered “how can this be?” and then after a period of time you came face to face with the Bread of Life. You met Jesus and got born again. Like Mary, you may have travelled a long road, but the journey itself was miraculous. Egypt is in your past because God brought you to Himself on eagle’s wings.

The other reason for the season

Christmas is not just the time when we celebrate Jesus’ arrival into the world. It’s also the time when we celebrate His arrival into our private world. Grace came 2000 years ago but it meant nothing until the day we believed it and got born again. So in a way, it’s not just His birthday we’re celebrating, it’s our birthday too.

This Christmas, as much of the world gathers around the manger in adoration, take a moment to reflect on your own journey to the House of Bread. Jesus is the reason for the season but ask yourself this: Why did He come? He came to save you. In His eyes you are the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field. As far as Jesus is concerned, you are the reason for the season.

You are highly favored and deeply loved! Oh Happy Day! Oh Happy Christmas!

Here’s something that will fry your mind: Repentance is one of the most important things you’ll ever do but it’s not worth an entire sermon. How can you say such heresy Paul? I’ll answer that question in a moment. But first, let me ask you which of the following is the best definition of repentance:

1.    Repentance means to turn from sin
2.    Repentance means to change your mind

As we saw in the last post, repentance is a lot like football. It means different things to different people. But Biblical repentance simply means “change your mind.” You can change your mind about anything, but Jesus called us to change our mind and believe the good news (Mk 1:15).

Your definition of repentance will reveal whether you are living under grace or works. In the Old Testament, sinners repented by bringing a sacrifice of penance and confessing their sins (Num 5:7). But in the new we bring a sacrifice of praise and confess His name (Heb 13:15). We don’t do anything to deal with our sins for Jesus has done it all. Our part is to change our mind, believe the good news, and say thank you Jesus! If that’s not practical enough for you, then start praising Jesus who died to free us from sin and whose grace empowers us to sin no more. See yourself as dead to sin and alive to Christ.

No matter how much I preach on grace, some people just can’t see the cross for their sins. They write to tell me I’m under-selling repentance. What they really mean is, “Paul you’re not telling people to turn from their sin.” In many churches this is exactly the message you will hear. “God is holy and He won’t accept you unless you turn from sin.” It’s sold as a “message of repentance” and it appeals to our sense of right and wrong but it’s utterly false. It’s a lie from the pit of hell designed to promote the flesh and keep you from coming to Jesus. The truth is God is holy and He won’t accept you no matter what you do. His acceptance and favor come by grace alone. Got a sin-problem? Then come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace. His grace is your only hope.

Here are three reasons why you should reject any message that defines repentance as turning from sin:

1. It puts people under law

If you preach “turn from sin or you’re not saved” you are preaching pure law. You are prescribing sin-rejection as a means for salvation. This false gospel actually leaves sinners worse off because it empowers the sin that enslaves them while scorning the grace of God that might otherwise save them (1 Cor 15:56, Rm 11:6). The righteousness that God offers is not conditional on your ability to perform. Neither your good works nor your bad works enter the equation. The gospel of grace reveals the gift of righteousness that is received by faith from first to last (Rom 1:17).

2. It doesn’t lead people to salvation

Let me give you a picture to illustrate true repentance. Suppose I call you up and give you an invitation to come to my house. You’ve never been here before so you need directions. There are two ways I could direct you. I could give you my address and provide an accurate picture of where I live. Or I could say, “flee from your house – just drive from your house as fast as possible and don’t look back.” Do you see the difference? In both cases you’re going to leave your house. That’s guaranteed. But only by trusting my directions will you arrive at my house.  Repentance is just like that. It’s not fleeing from sin like a Pharisee. It’s turning to God in faith. In both cases you will leave your sin. But only by trusting God will you actually arrive someplace better than where you started.

To get people to repent (change their minds) Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom. He painted a picture of where God wanted them to be (with Him here and now) and He gave them clear directions on how to get there (have faith in God). It was the same with Paul. He didn’t walk into Corinth, one of the world’s most depraved cities, and preach “turn from sin.” Instead he resolved to know nothing but “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). Sinners need to learn how much God loves them. They need to hear about His unconditional favor and grace. The best way to tell them is to reveal the finished work of the cross. When the Corinthian Christians later fell into sin, Paul still didn’t preach “turn from sin.” Instead he reminded them of their identity in Christ. He understood that grace, not works, is the cure for sin.

3. We’re called to preach the gospel, not repentance

Should you repent? Of course! I actually think there needs to be far more repentance, particularly from believers. Repentance should be our life-style. You cannot renew your mind without repenting for repenting means to change your mind. When I discover something new about the goodness of God, I repent – I change my way of thinking so that my life lines up with what is true. I repent every day and it’s wonderful. I’m not the same person I was even six months ago because I am in the habit of repenting.

Repentance is one of the most important things you’ll ever do but you don’t get people to repent simply by telling them to repent. You just give them a good reason to repent and they’ll repent. Paul said repentance comes as a consequence of learning about the goodness of God (Rom 2:4). So if you want people to repent, tell them how good God is! Preach the good news! Faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin. Repentance, like faith, is a positive response to something God has done.

Paul said, “the only thing that counts is faith expressed in love” (Gal 5:6). God loves you, He died for you and He offers you His righteousness. Do you believe it? God’s power for salvation – for your forgiveness, healing, deliverance and provision – is revealed in the good news of grace. Do you believe it? All the blessings of God come to us by grace alone. Do you believe it?

John doesn’t say one word about repentance but he talks about believing over and over. He said that he wrote his book so “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Joh 20:31). The key to life is not in turning from sin but trusting in Jesus.

You want others to repent? Then preach the gospel that reveals the goodness of God: Jesus has done it all!
___
Related posts:
- Are sinners forgiven too?
- What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
- Seven signs that you might be living under law

“So you like footy. Who’s your favorite team?”
“Collingwood.”
“Never heard of them. Do they play in the Bundesliga?”
“The Bundes-what-now?”

It’s a bit like that with the word “repentance.” Here on E2R there has been a lot of discussion lately regarding the purpose of repentance. Much of that discussion is like the conversation above. We’re all fans of repentance but we seem to be talking about completely different things.

So what is repentance? Like football, your answer to that question says a lot about where you’re coming from. If you’ve been raised under performance-based religion, repentance is something we must do to be saved. If you don’t repent, you’re not saved. What is the something we must we do? Turn from sin of course. But as I will explain, this is a limited and misleading interpretation of repentance.

What is repentance?

The Greek word commonly translated repentance (metanoia) literally means to change your mind. (You can check this out for yourself by looking up a Greek lexicon such as Thayer’s and Smith’s Bible Dictionary or Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.) The Greek word for repent (metanoeo) is similar and both words are derived from the Greek word for mind (nous). So to repent is to change your mind. Nothing more, nothing less. Let’s look at an example from scripture:

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mar 1:15)

This is where the football confusion starts to kick in. The religious mind interprets Jesus’ words as “turn from sin and believe the good news.” But that is not what Jesus is saying. Jesus is addressing unbelievers. He is saying “change your unbelieving mind and believe the good news.” Repentance is not primarily a sin issue, it’s a faith issue. We are born walking by sight and trusting in the flesh. Jesus says, change the way you think and believe the good news.

Now that we know what repentance is (a change of mind), I want to address three common myths or misconceptions.

Myth 1: Repentance brings forgiveness

… repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Lk 24:47)

The religious mind reads this and thinks “I need to repent in order to be forgiven.” In other words, God will not forgive me unless I do something. This is pure hubris. It’s straight out of the old covenant. God is God and He has already forgiven in accordance with the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7). As I explain elsewhere, God does not need your permission to forgive you. We don’t repent to get forgiven; we repent because we are forgiven. Forgiveness is part of the good news: repent and believe it.

Myth 2: Repentance is turning from sin

Since repentance means changing your mind, it’s certainly possible that one can repent by turning from sin and there are plenty of people in the Bible who did so. But that’s only one kind of repentance and it is not the kind that leads to salvation. In the New Testament, repentance typically means turning to God.

I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. (Act 20:21)

Turning from versus turning to may seem like splitting hairs, but it’s the difference between life and death! Someone who turns to God automatically turns from sin and from their dead religious works, but someone who turns from sin does not automatically turn to God. This is why it is misleading and dangerous to preach repentance as “turning from sin.” Paul never did. “I preached that they should repent and turn to God” (Act 26:20). As usual, Paul took his lead from Jesus:

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Luk 5:32)

Again, the religious mind interprets this as a call to turn from sin but turning from sin doesn’t make you righteous. An unbeliever who turns from sin remains an unbeliever. Consider the Pharisees. They ran away anytime sin appeared. If anyone knew how to turn from sin they did yet Jesus called them sons of hell (Mt 23:15). Turning from sin will make you a moral person, but it won’t make you righteous. Righteousness comes to us through faith in Christ alone.

I appreciate that what I am saying about repentance contradicts reputable commentaries. So let’s take a look at one. To the right is a screenshot taken from BibleStudyTools.com showing Thayer’s and Smith’s definition of the word “repent.” (Click on the image to see a larger version.) You will see that they provide two definitions: (1) to change one’s mind and (2) to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins. Abhorrence is a strong word. It sounds like the experts are defining repentance as turning from sin. But do you see the problem? It is logically impossible for both of these definitions to be fully true. If the second definition is true, and repentance does indeed mean turning from sin, then we should reject the first definition as misleading. It needs qualification. But if the first definition is true, then the second is incomplete. It is as if we had looked up the word “turn” in the dictionary and found that it simultaneously means (1) to change direction and (2) to change direction by always going left.

To sum up, repentance can mean turning from sin, but since turning from sin will not save you this is exactly the wrong sort of repentance to preach. I’ll discuss this point further in my next post.

Myth 3: Repentance means feeling sorry for sin

Let’s look at another reputable source. To the right is a screenshot taken from the Blue Letter Bible showing F.F. Bruce’s definition of repentance: “Repentance… involves a turning with contrition from sin to God.” My problem here is with the qualifier contrition. Apparently it is not enough that you turn to God, you must turn with remorse, regret, and feelings of guilt. If you don’t have these feelings then you’ve not really repented and therefore you’re not saved. So go away, ponder your sins, and come back when you’re ready to have a good cry about them.

This is pure emotionalism. This is old covenant sackcloth and ashes. This is Judas killing himself with grief. The good news is supposed to release great joy, not great sorrow. When you’ve heard that God loves you and has forgiven you and carried all your infirmities and has provided everything you need for life and godliness, why would you be sad? It’s truly bizarre.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (2 Cor 7:10)

Religious people read this scripture backwards: “Repentance brings godly sorrow.” Or they say “repentance is godly sorrow.” But Paul says no such thing. In KJVese he says godly sorrow worketh repentance. In other words, godly sorrow and repentance are different things. And if you read the context you will see that Paul was not referring to the repentance that leads salvation but the relational strain between him and his beloved Corinthians. They had given him the cold shoulder, he rebuked them, they felt bad about it and repented.

Godly sorrow can and does lead to repentance but it’s unlikely that you will cry every time you change your mind about the Lord. In truth, it doesn’t really matter how your emotions respond when you learn about the good news of God’s grace. It only matters that you believe it.

Repentance, like football, means different things to different people. But only one code of the game is played in heaven (rugby!). Similarly, there’s only one kind of repentance that matters to God and that’s the kind that leads you to Him. His heart’s desire is for you to come to Him. You can come happy or come sad but the main thing is that you come.
___
Related posts:
- What is the unforgiveable sin?
- 3 reasons why I don’t preach on repentance
- Psalm 51: The badness of David vs the goodness of God

If you’re uncertain about God’s forgiveness, your faith will be weak and unproductive. So to demolish any uncertainty, I want to ask a bold question: Are sinners forgiven? You would have to agree that if God has forgiven sinners, then surely He has forgiven Christians who don’t repent or who forget to confess some of their sins? If we can see from scripture that sinners are forgiven, then just maybe we’ll be able to rest assured that we are forgiven too.

Four prophets

So are sinners forgiven? I’m going to call on four great prophets to answer this question. Here’s David:

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Ps 103:12)

When David sinned with Bathsheba, everyone knew about it. It was a public sin that led to death for at least two people and brought David pain and regret. He said, “I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (51:3). By all rights, David should’ve been executed for his sin. The law covenant under which he lived had a legitimate claim on his life (Lev 20:10). But David appealed to the One who is greater than the law. “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving-kindness” (Ps 51:1, NKJV). David was not trying to excuse his sin – he knew full well that he had done a terrible thing. But he had a revelation of a compassionate Father “who does not treat us as our sins deserve” (Ps 103:10). He asked God to “blot out my transgressions” (Ps 51:1), and through the prophet Isaiah, God said He would:

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Isa 43:25)

Isaiah 42-45 is a four chapter advertisement for the new covenant. Isaiah 42 tells us about the coming Savior and Isaiah 43 tells us about the “new thing” that He will do. What is the new thing? “I will blot out your transgressions and remember your sins no more.” What an amazing new thing! Under the old covenant, sins were recorded and remembered (Lev 4-6). But under the new covenant they would be blotted out and remembered no more. Isaiah was not the only one to see this coming. Here’s Jeremiah:

This is the covenant I will make… I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Jer 31:33-34)

Imagine hearing this while living under the old law covenant. I would’ve asked, “When, Lord? When will you do this great new thing?” Well by the time we get to Hebrews we learn that God has already done it. Jesus appeared “once for all… to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb 9:26). “When this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down” (Heb 10:12). When Jesus did away with all sin, the prophecies were fulfilled. Hebrews even quotes them just to make sure we don’t miss the connection: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Heb 10:17). Jesus didn’t die just for confessed and repented sins. He died for all sin. Just look at the words of our fourth prophet, John the Baptist:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh 1:29)

Whose sin did Jesus take away? The sin of the world! Does the world include sinners? Yes! Then sinners are forgiven. Their sins are no longer being recorded:

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (2 Cor 5:18-19)

Men have sins but God is neither counting them nor remembering them. How can you say such things! Sinners aren’t saved! I didn’t say they were. But they are forgiven:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins… (Col 2:13)

When were your sins forgiven? When you were dead in your sins! In other words, you were forgiven before you repented, before you confessed, before you were born again. In fact, you were forgiven long before you were born. How is this possible? I didn’t do anything to merit His forgiveness. Exactly! That’s why it’s called grace.

Don’t believe the bad news

God doesn’t need your permission to forgive you. His forgiveness is entirely based on the finished work of the cross. Those who claim we must do stuff to be forgiven are saying that Jesus needs to come and die again, that once wasn’t enough. This is called bad news and it’s not in the Bible. Don’t believe it. Jesus didn’t die for some sin but all sin. His one-time sacrifice for the sin of the world was perfectly perfect and completely complete in every respect.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 Jhn 2:2)

Paul, you sound like you’re preaching universalism. I’m not – I’m telling you the same good news that the prophets foretold and the apostles declared: God the Son has done away with sin! Neither God the Father no God the Holy Spirit remembers our sins anymore! This is the gospel truth. Do you believe it?

Put your faith in the good news

Jesus said that forgiveness of sins is a gift that must be received (Acts 26:19). Two kinds of people will never receive this gift: (1) Those who don’t think they’re sinners in need of a Savior and (2) those who think they must do things like confess and repent to earn God’s forgiveness. (In case you’re wondering, 1 John 1:9 is directed to those in the first group – see 1 John 1:8.) The grace of God can only be received through faith (Eph 2:8). Everyone is forgiven but not everyone believes that they are forgiven. Those who don’t believe reject the gift that God offers them.

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin because men do not believe in Me (Jn 16:8). Sinners don’t need the Holy Spirit to tell them that they’re sinners. If their own consciences don’t condemn them, the law will (Rm 3:20). The Holy Spirit is here to convince the world that our sins been blotted out and removed as far as the east is from the west. The Holy Spirit is here to reveal Jesus and the finished work of the cross.

I want to add my little voice to the mighty Holy Spirit and shout the good news from the rooftops: You are forgiven! You may be the worst sinner on the planet but by the grace of God you are forgiven! You may be a saint who has drifted into sin but you are forgiven! Whether you have confessed everything or nothing at all; whether you have repented or are still senseless in the pig pen – you are forgiven! Whether you believe or don’t believe the gospel – you are forgiven!

A proper response to this good news is to turn to God and put your trust in His amazing grace. This is called repentance. We don’t repent to get forgiven; we repent because we are forgiven. If you are still unsure about this, review the scriptures above and then tell yourself, “I am totally forgiven because of Jesus.” All the blessings that are ours in Christ – His acceptance, righteousness, holiness – flow from the revelation that we have been completely and eternally forgiven through the precious blood of the Lamb. See Jesus sitting down at the right hand of the Father. He’s not running around cleaning up your sins. His redemption work is done and He now invites you to enter His rest.
___
Related posts:
- Your glorious new past
- Is God’s love unconditional?
- Confession, conviction, confusion!

___
Related posts:
- Before and after
- Are you religious? Take the test
- How well did I understand grace before I understood grace?

“We died with Christ…” (Rm 6:8)
“You died with Christ…” (Col 2:20a)
“For you died…” (Col 3:3a)

Who died? You died! “How did this happen? I don’t remember the nails?” Well you’re going to have to take God’s word for it. Jesus died for the whole world right? Are you part of the whole world? Then His death included you:

“We judge thus: That if One died for all, then all died.” (2 Cor 5:15)

Good news for the whole world

Somehow we have bought into this idea that Christ died solely for Christians. But this is not the message of reconciliation that Paul preached. “God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 5:18). Who is the “us” that Paul is referring to in this passage? In the next verse he tells us:

“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself…” (2 Cor 5:19a)

Because of one man the entire world had a sin problem. But on the cross the whole world was delivered from that problem.

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Cor 15:22)

You might say, “I’m not too sure about this. This sounds like universalism.” It is not. You still gotta believe it to receive it. My point is this: If you believed that sin and death came to the whole world through one man, why is it so hard to accept that reconciliation came to the whole world through another? Just as you were in Adam when he sinned in the garden, so you were in Christ when He died on the cross.

“Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.” (Rm 5:18)

Since Christ died on the cross as humanity’s representative, it is fair to say that when He died, we died. This does not mean that everyone is now counted righteous, for we must still respond to God’s grace with faith.

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Rom 5:19)

And how do we receive the gift of God’s righteousness? Through faith, from first to last (Rm 1:17).

Good news for Christians

Because they are confused about the cross, many Christians are trying to die to self. They’re striving so hard that they’re on the verge of shedding blood for Jesus. If this is you, put down that hammer! Jesus didn’t bleed for you just so you could bleed for Him. He died so that you might live and live abundantly (Jn 10:10). Every man-made religion preaches self-denial and dying to self but the Bible simply declares, You died! Your old man is dead already. What do you think you were doing when you got water baptized? You were re-enacting your co-crucifixion with Christ:

“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Rom 6:3)

You might say, “But I’m still a mess. I’m still battling with sin.” That may be so, but you will gain nothing by trying to do that which God has already done. The work of the cross is finished. Here’s Watchman Nee writing in The Normal Christian Life:

“Let me tell you, You have died! You are done with! You are ruled out! The self you loathe is on the Cross in Christ. And ‘he that is dead is freed from sin’ (Rom 6:7). This is the Gospel for Christians. Our crucifixion can never be made effective by will or by effort, but only by accepting what the Lord Jesus did on the Cross.” (p.52)

You did not die the first time you responded to God’s grace and you did not die when you were water baptized. You died 2000 years ago, long before you were born! Now this sounds like foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18). Here’s Watchman Nee again:

“Must we ask God to crucify us? Never! When Christ was crucified we were crucified; and his crucifixion is past therefore ours cannot be future… That we have died in Christ is not merely a doctrinal position, it is an eternal and indisputable fact.” (pp.44-5)

Origin determines destination. If you think you are still in Adam, then the best you can hope for is to be a decent sinner. But when you know that you died with Christ, you will be empowered to live with Him here and now (2 Tim 2:11). To live the victorious life that Christ has called you to, it’ll help if you know the answer to three questions: (1) What did I lose at the cross? (2) What did I gain at the cross? (3) What did I retain after the cross? We’ll look at some answers to these questions in the next post.
___
Related posts:
- Who can take communion?
- Two religions: Works and blood
- What was Last Adam’s greater work?

That’s how it was for me with grace.

I knew people who looked into the Bible and saw radical grace but I didn’t. Sure, there were pockets of grace but there was a whole lot of other stuff as well. Then one day, revelation came and I saw Grace! He’s right there on every page and in every book! How can you miss Him? He’s huge! I now find myself reading old scriptures with new eyes and saying, “Look! This is speaking of Jesus! This is all about Him – I never saw this before.” Now that I’ve seen Him once I see Him everywhere. I was saved decades ago and I have always loved God with my whole heart. But when I got this revelation of His amazing grace, it was like being born again, again.

A friend recently asked me, “How well did you understand grace before you understood grace?” Here’s my answer: I thought I understood grace perfectly well. For as long as I can remember I’ve considered myself a testimony of His grace. But when Grace Himself came into focus, I was floored. I realized that I had barely understood grace at all. Looking back I can identify nine signs that showed I did not fully grasp the grace of God.

1. I understood that I was saved by grace but not that I was kept by grace

I had received Christ by faith and without doing a thing, but I was not continuing in Him by that same faith (Col 2:6). Although I would never have said it, I had taken out a little works insurance. Faith is a positive response to what God has done, but I liked to initiate things. And so my walk became “do, do, do,” rather than it’s “done, done, done.” There was no rest, only performance anxiety. There was always another meeting to lead, another plank of truth to teach, another stray sheep to gather. I thought this was normal. I could get excited about the idea of being saved and saving others, but I was not drawing from the wells of salvation with joy (Is 12:3). I was constantly stressed and I treated grace as grease for my engine.

2. I felt obliged to serve

Jesus had done everything for me, what would I do for Him? Of course I didn’t use the word “indebted” – that would’ve alerted me to the poverty of my theology – but much of what I did was motivated by a sense of obligation. I thus cheapened the exceeding riches of His grace (Eph 1:7) by trying to pay Him back for His priceless gift. Inevitably this shifted my focus from Him and His work to me and mine. Instead of being impressed by what He had done, I was trying to impress Him with what I was doing.

3. I motivated others using carrots and sticks

Because my own motives were screwed up it was inevitable that I would preach rewards and punishments to others. Do good, get good; do bad, get bad. At the same time as I was preaching against legalism I was putting people under law! My gospel was like an ash-tray – full of “buts”! God loves you but… Jesus died for you but…  God’s gifts always came with a price to pay. But grace is free – you either receive it or reject it but the moment you start charging for it, you’ve missed it. There’s only one motive in the kingdom and that is love. The Son of Man didn’t come to threaten us, judge us, or scare us, but to demonstrate love (Rm 5:8). I no longer believe that evangelism means scaring the hell out of people. The good news that the world needs to hear is that God is good and He loves us. The new covenant of grace is the formal expression of His unfailing love for us (Is 54:10).

4. I saw myself as a servant rather than a son

My identity was in the things I did rather than in my Father. I saw myself as working for God (a noble cause!) rather than doing the works of God. I would not have said I was justified by what I did for I knew that grace and works don’t mix (Rms 11:6). Yet I was mixing grace with works like there was no tomorrow! But here’s the strange thing. Even though I preached servanthood more than sonship, whenever there was a crisis I was quick to relate to Him as Papa. It was only when I was strong and healthy that I was seduced by the religious need to do something for God. Happily, there were many crises!

5. I kept asking God to provide things that He’s already provided

I knew enough about grace to approach Him boldly in my hour of need, but I didn’t know that He has already given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3). If someone was sick I would ask for healing when I should’ve just healed them (Mt 10:8). I would ask for more faith instead of living by the faith of the Son of God (Ga 2:20). Like the prodigal’s older brother I felt that God would bless me as I did my part. I didn’t realize that I was already blessed, deeply loved, and highly favored. In my ignorance I wasted a whole lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing. I thought I was being active and fruitful but in reality I was passive and faithless. God had already come but there I was face down asking Him to come again.

6. I was more sin-conscious than Christ-conscious

Like many Christians I was afraid of sin (keep it out of the camp!) and I was not known as a friend of sinners. I defined sin as bad works only and I taught that the solution to sin was repentance. I had read that the grace of God teaches us to say no to ungodliness (Tit 2:12), but I wasn’t quite sure how that worked. So when preaching against sin I used inferior incentives like fear and punishment that led, at best, to temporary, will-powered changes in behavior. I emphasized what people must do (repent!) more that what God has already done (forgiven us!). I kept the focus on us when it should’ve been on Him and my preaching was powerless as a result. If anyone failed to experience victory over sin, I just figured they were unacquainted with God’s transforming grace – even though I had given them none.

7. I always tried to do the right thing

Someone under grace says, “I trust Him from start to finish. He will lead me in the right path” (Ps 23:3). But in subtle ways I preferred rules to relationship. What I craved were clear Biblical guidelines for living. I thought I was choosing good, but then so did Adam. We both had an independent spirit that led us to eat from the wrong tree. I felt particularly good when people came to me for guidance. I thought I was giving them wisdom when really I should just have got out of the way and taught them to lean on Jesus (Jn 10:27).

8. I had a stronger relationship with the written word than with the Living Word

I did not read the scriptures to find Jesus (Lk 24:27) but to learn, what should I do? I read indiscriminately and was often confused by scriptures that seemed to contradict each other. My solution was to go for balance: A little of this, a little of that, for all scripture is profitable. But by failing to filter what I read through the finished work of the cross, I unwittingly poisoned myself. I was mixing the death-dealing words of the law with the life-giving words of grace. Although I was zealous for the Lord, in truth I was lukewarm. I was neither under the stone-cold reality of the law nor walking in the red-hot heat of His unconditional love and grace.

9. I knew I was righteous, but I didn’t feel righteous

When I stumbled I would more readily confess my sins to God than allow the Holy Spirit to remind me of the gift of His righteousness to me (Jn 16:10). I knew I was a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), but in many ways I acted and spoke as if I was merely an improved creation. I thought honesty about my struggles was the key to getting more grace. But I probably would not have struggled so much in the first place if I had just learned to see myself as God sees me – redeemed, righteous, and holy.

I am convinced that grace comes by revelation. If you don’t yet see it this post may sound like the ramblings of a man who is unbalanced. (Thank God I am! I’m done with balance!) If you do see Grace, then right now you will be resonating like a tuning fork. So let me finish with a few words for those of you in the first group. Please be patient with those of us who are leaping for joy. Don’t walk away from the Magic Eye picture scowling, “I can’t see it, there’s nothing there.” Just keep looking! Grace really is standing right there in front of you. And He’s huge!
___
Related posts:

And yet despite these few passages that say otherwise (I will address these in my next post) I am 100% convinced that God loves us unconditionally. You need to be 100% convinced too. So let me give you seven reasons for concluding that God loves you unconditionally:

(1) Love, by definition, is unconditional

“God is love (agape).” (1 Jn 4:16)

You probably know about the different words for love in the Greek language. You might even know that agape-love refers to “unconditional, self-sacrificing, and active” love. But did you know that agape love is unique to God? It is not a human form of love. If your experience of love is limited to what you have received from people, chances are you have encountered frail love that sometimes comes with expectations and baggage. But God’s love is not like this. As we will see, His love is unlike anything found in this world.

(2) Jesus demonstrates unconditional love

“But God demonstrates His own (agape) love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8)

If you want to know what agape love looks like, consider Jesus. “For God so agapao-ed the world, that He gave His only Son…” (Jn 3:16). We did not deserve to be saved, yet He came for us regardless. That He died for us shows us that God loves us more than He loves His own life. We had done nothing to attract Him. We had not even repented. Yet our Creator hung on the cross that we put Him on and forgave us as we killed Him. The cross is the single greatest demonstration of unconditional love the world has ever known.

(3) God’s love is immeasurable

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the (agape) love of Christ, and to know this (agape) love that surpasses knowledge…” (Eph 3:17-19)

When Paul wrote these words he knew full well that he was asking us to do the impossible. You cannot grasp the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love – they are ungraspable! Nevertheless Paul encouraged us to “Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!” as Eugene Petersen says, because if you had even the smallest glimpse of how much He loves you, you would be undone. Selfishness and dead religion would wither. Your accomplishments and qualifications you would cheerfully count as rubbish compared to the awesome privilege and surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord.

(4) God’s love keeps no record of wrongs

“(Agape-love) is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it…” (1 Cor 13:5, AMP)

Jesus knew the name of every soldier who beat Him, every person who mocked Him, and every Pharisee who thought He was the devil. Yet He still went to the cross so that they might be reconciled to God. It was as if God was not counting their sins against them! He wasn’t, and neither is He counting yours (2 Co 5:19). On the cross, justice had a meeting with unconditional love and your peace with God was secured. Your transgressions have been blotted out as if you’d never done them (Is 43:25). Because God the Son bled for you, both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit have gone on record saying they will remember your sins no more (He 8:12, 10:17).

(5) God’s love endures

“Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].” (1 Cor 13:5-8, AMP)

You can take the love of God and nail it to a cross and He will still love you enough to come back from the dead and hunt you down just to tell you that He’s forgiven you and loves you and wants to be with you forever. Who does that?! Only God.

(6) God’s love is everlasting

“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.’” (Jer 31:3)

Now there’s a quote that should be on the wall of every believer! The Hebrew word hesed, which denotes steadfast love, warm-hearted generosity, and devotion, and which is usually translated as loving-kindness, appears 250 times in the Old Testament. As Malcolm Smith explains, this word captures God’s heart towards us and is revealed formally in the covenant He made with us through our representative Jesus. So even if it were possible for God to have a change of heart and stop loving you, He would be bound by covenant to continue loving you for as long Jesus lives.

(7) God loves the unlovely

Perhaps you think God can’t love you because of all the bad stuff you’ve done. If you’re still not convinced that He loves you with an unconditional love, then consider those He loved in the Bible. He loved an adulterer and murderer called David. He pursued a persecuting Pharisee named Saul. When He wanted to portray His love for Israel He told the prophet Hosea to marry and love an unfaithful woman. When He walked the earth in human form He developed a reputation as a friend of sinners and told stories about prodigals who were loved even though they had done nothing deserving of love. He loved lepers and Gentiles, thieving tax-collectors and stinkin’ Samaritans. At this point you really should stop and ask yourself why?

Why does God love us?

We have seen from scripture that His love for us has nothing to do with our loveliness nor our behavior, whether good or bad. He simply loves us because He is love and it’s His nature to love. And thank God this is so, for there is no hope except that He loves us. If He did not love us unconditionally, He would not have died for us and there would be no new covenant based on His grace. But He does and He did and there is!

This is the good news that the whole world needs to hear.
___
Related posts:
- Good news! What’s so good about it?
- God is good but how good is He?
- Forsaking your first love: What was the Ephesians’ problem?

How does this happen? Usually someone tells them that God won’t accept them or bless them or be pleased with them unless they perform for Jesus. Dead religious works are sold with respectable labels like “responsibility,” “good works,” “mission,” “sowing,” and “investing.” I am not against these things! What I am opposed to is the diabolical lie that says God’s favor depends on me doing them.

Do you know that you are saved by grace and kept by grace?

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him.” (Col 2:6)

How did you receive Him? By faith. How should you continue to live in Him? By faith! It’s faith in God’s grace from start to finish. Are you living by the faith of the Son of God? Or have you taken out a little works insurance? As Watchman Nee put it, the choice is between trying and trusting. You can try or you can trust but you can’t do both. Are you a tryer or a truster?

I have proclaimed the true gospel elsewhere. I have also listed some of the common ways the gospel is perverted along with some signs that you might be living under self-imposed law. What I want to give you here is a simple test to help you determine whether the gospel message you’re trusting in is the same gospel that Jesus revealed and Paul preached. It’s a simple test. Just ask yourself the following four questions. If your answers are all yes, then rejoice, for you are living on pure, undiluted grace!

1.    Does this gospel cause me to fix my eyes exclusively on Jesus?

Does this message focus on me or does it cause me to fix my eyes on the Author and Finisher of my faith? Does it emphasize what I’m doing (or not doing), or does it emphasize His finished work on the cross? Does it make me introspective and anxious or Christ-conscious and grateful?

A true gospel preacher will always seek to reveal more and more of Jesus. It took me years to realize this. When I began preaching in the 1990s, I used to preach on the kingdom. I loved the kingdom and I still do. But I now realize that my love for the kingdom was really a love for the King. Now I just preach of this Great King who loves me and gave Himself for me. Now I just preach Jesus.

Preachers, do you need a message on healing? Then preach Jesus! Do you need a series on overcoming, giving, wisdom, holiness, faith, warfare, marriage, family life, outreach, helping the poor, deliverance, Leviticus, the Tabernacle, etc? Then preach Jesus!

Whatever your need, your answer is found in Jesus and His finished work. That’s why Paul resolved to know nothing but “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Co 2:2). Any message that doesn’t reveal Jesus will likely be powerless substitute, a flesh-trip, and a wasted opportunity. Jesus is the supreme manifestation of the character and purpose of God. Any message that diminishes Jesus, insults the Spirit of grace. Jesus is peerless and nothing compares to Him. He has become for us wisdom from God and I will boast (preach) of nothing else (1 Co 1:30-31).

2.    Does this gospel increase my dependence on Jesus?

Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). Sadly, much is being done apart from Jesus and most of it will amount to nothing! Instead of healing the sick, raising the dead and driving out demons – the very things Jesus said His followers would do – we’re doing other stuff. And because we’re so busy doing other stuff we’re worn out and missing opportunities to do the works and greater works of Jesus.

Let me put your mind at rest right now: I guarantee that in your own strength you cannot heal the sick and raise the dead. Don’t even try. But Christ in you can do these and greater things! Do you trust Him? Working out your salvation with fear and trembling describes the adventure of learning to do impossible things with Jesus. Here’s the test: The true gospel will always inspire you to take risks in His Name, but a false gospel promotes activity in your own name.

3.    Does this gospel empower me to overcome sin?

There are two ways to deal with sin; (1) preach law or (2) reveal grace. A law-based message will stir up the flesh in a human-powered quest for a change in behavior. This approach is inherently flawed for the purpose of the law is to inflame sin (Rm 7:5). Thus, any “success” with this approach will only lead to the graver sins of pride, self-righteousness, and the truly fatal sin of unbelief in the grace of a good God. Ultimately the law is powerless to deal with sin because it leaves the heart untouched (Col 2:23). Worse, it releases condemnation (which some mistake for conviction) and ministers death, just as it was designed to do (2 Co 3:7,9).

Grace declares that Jesus conquered all sin on the cross (He 9:26). You are not holy because of your behavior but His (1 Co 1:30). A preacher of grace will deal very practically with sin by seeking to reveal your true identity in Christ. You are a new creation with a new nature. Your old sin software has been nailed to the cross and you are no longer sin’s slave (Rm 6:6,20). Appetites are dealt with by recognizing who you are in Christ and reckoning your old self as dead. Again, the focus is on Jesus, not you. Jesus was tempted in every way yet was without sin. As you rest in Him, you will find grace to help you in your time of need (Heb 4:15-16).

The law does not provide useful guidelines for Christian living. We turn rules into idols when we put our faith in them instead of Christ. The Bible is very clear; the law empowers sin (1 Cor 15:56) and only a revelation of God’s grace can teach us to say no to ungodliness (Tit 2:12). Here’s the test: a false gospel will keep you sin-conscious, but the true gospel will make you Christ-conscious. Which describes you? Are you sin-conscious or Christ-conscious?

4.    Does this gospel release peace and joy?

The kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rm 14:17). If the gospel you’re listening to doesn’t reveal Jesus and the gift of His righteousness, then you will never experience the peace and joy that comes with it. It really is all about Jesus. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness (2 Co 5:21). This is what the gospel reveals – a righteousness from God that is received by faith from first to last (Rm 1:17). When you know that God has made you as righteous as Jesus, you will be empowered to reign in life (Rm 5:17).

This test is actually about righteousness: Are you resting in His or are you trying to impress Him with yours? A false gospel will seek to manufacture righteousness through works and holy living. By prescribing a course of action for you to take, it will instantly fail the above three tests. It will burden you with loads you cannot carry and expectations you cannot live up to. Before you know it, you will be as stressed and joyless as Martha.

Here’s the test. If you stopped doing the things you are doing for Jesus, would you feel guilty? What if you sinned, stopped giving, or skipped church? I’m not encouraging you to do any of these things – sin is stupid. But someone who knows they are clothed with His righteousness will never battle guilt and condemnation. Even when they sin they will sense the Holy Spirit convicting them of their continued righteousness in Christ (Jn 16:10). Conversely, one who’s bought into a false gospel will never know lasting peace. Even when they’ve performed there will always be a sense of “but have I done enough?”

Paul began every one of his letters with the phrase, “Grace and peace to you from God the Father.” It is only a revelation of God’s favor that brings true peace. Know grace, know peace. Worldly peace is temporary, but the peace of God – that sense that everything is coming together for good because you belong to Jesus and His favor rests on you – passes understanding (Php 4:7). It fortifies your heart and mind so that in all circumstances you find yourself overflowing with thankfulness (Col 2:7). No matter how severe your trial, you will be able to find rest – indeed, even joy – in His mighty, loving arms (Php 4:4).

So how did your gospel do? If you honestly answered no to any of these four questions, then I have Good News for you.
___
Related posts:
- Are you religious? Take the test
- Two religions: Works and blood
- Be earnest and repent (Rev 3:19)

Below are 50 things you need to know about your new God-given identity. Read these 344 words out loud, with conviction, and I guarantee you it will leave you feeling mightily encouraged… and new!

I Am

I am a saint, a trophy of Christ’s victory

I am born again of imperishable seed
I am a new creation, complete in Christ and perfect forever

I am a child of God, the apple of my Father’s eye
I am one with the Lord and the temple of the Holy Spirit

I am eternally redeemed and completely forgiven
I am seated with Christ in heavenly realms
I am summoned by name and I am His

I am dead to sin and alive to God
I am free from guilt and condemnation
I am righteous, holy and blameless!
I am healed and I am strong in the Lord

I am hidden in Christ and eternally secure
I am loved with an everlasting love and I am highly favored

I am my Beloved’s and He is mine

Selah

I am the head and not the tail
I am blessed with every spiritual blessing and I am a joint heir with Christ

I am a competent minister of the new covenant
I am bona fide and qualified, chosen and anointed
I am His royal ambassador, a missionary to the world

I am a stranger on earth, a citizen of a city whose maker is God
I am not looking back but I am pressing on to know Him more

I am trusting that He will finish in me that which He started

I am a king and a priest; a carrier of the Lord’s authority
I am a healer of the sick and a demon’s worst nightmare
I am king o’ the world because His victory is mine!

I am as bold as a lion and more than a conqueror
I am a towering testimony of the Spirit’s power

I am the salt of the earth and the light of the world
I am the sweet smell of Jesus to those who are perishing

I am a tree planted by the water, and I am a fruitful branch
I am the disciple whom Jesus loves

And by the grace of God I am what I am

___
Sources:
I am a saint (Rm 1:7, Eph 1:1, Php 1:1 Ju 1:3), a trophy of Christ’s victory (2 Cor 2:14, AMP); born again (1 Pe 1:23), a new creation (2 Cor 5:17); complete in Christ (Col 2:10) and perfect forever (He 10:14); a child of God (1 Jn 3:1), the apple of my Father’s eye (Ps 17:8); one with the Lord (1 Cor 6:17) and the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19); eternally redeemed (He 9:12) and completely forgiven (Col 2:13); seated with Christ in heavenly realms (Eph 2:6); summoned by name and His (Is 43:1, 2 Cor 1:22); dead to sin and alive to God (Rm 6:11); free from guilt and condemnation (He 10:22, Rm 8:1); righteous (2 Cor 5:21), holy and blameless! (Eph 1:4); healed (1 Pet 2:24) and strong in the Lord (Eph 6:10); hidden in Christ (Col 3:3) and eternally secure (He 6:19); loved with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3); highly favored (Eph 1:6 charitoo); my Beloved’s and He is mine (Son 6:3); the head and not the tail (De 28:13); blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3) and a joint heir with Christ (Rm 8:17); a competent minister of the new covenant (2 Co 3:6); bona fide and qualified (Col 1:12), chosen (Jn 15:8, Col 3:12, 1 Th 1:4, 1 Pe 2:9) and anointed (1 Jn 2:27); His royal ambassador (2 Co 5:20), a missionary to the world (Mt 28:19); a stranger on earth (He 11:13), a citizen of a city whose maker is God (He 11:10,16, 12:22); pressing on to know Him more (Ph 3:14); He will finish what He started (He 12:2, Ju 1:24, 2 Co 9:8); a king and a priest (Rev 1:6); a carrier of the Lord’s authority (Lk 10:19); a healer of the sick (Mark 16:18) and a demon’s worst nightmare (Mt 10:8); king o’ the world (1 Jn 5:4) because His victory is mine (1 Co 15:57); as bold as a lion (Pr 28:1) and more than a conqueror (Rm 8:37); a testimony of the Spirit’s power (1 Cor 2:4, 12:7, 2 Co 1:9); the salt (Mt 5:13) and light of the world (Mt 5:14); the sweet smell of Jesus to those who are perishing (2 Cor 2:15); a tree planted by the water (Ps 1:3, Jer 17:7), and  a fruitful branch (Jn 15:8); the disciple whom Jesus loves (Eph 1:6) and by the grace of God I am what I am (1 Co 15:10). Hallelujah!

___
Related posts:
- Son, servant or friend of God?
- Son or sinner – what are you confessing?
- Grace and love in the Chronicles of Narnia

Although many fear that they have done unforgiveable things, Jesus clearly said that there is only one unforgiveable sin, and that is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to blaspheme someone? You might have heard that it is taking the Lord’s Name in vain, but that doesn’t fully capture the meaning of blasphemy. In the original Greek, the words blasphemy (Mt 12:32) and blaspheme (Mk 3:28) mean to slander or to speak falsely of someone in a manner than injures their good name. When people accused Paul of preaching grace as a license to sin, he said their reports were blasphemous, or slanderous (Rm 3:8). In other words, the reports were false and injurious to his reputation and message.

Jesus’ warning about not slandering the Holy Spirit is reported in three gospels (Mt 12:32, Mk 3:29, Lk 12:10). In two of those accounts the warning comes after Jesus had been driving out demons “by the Spirit of God” (Mt 12:28). But the Pharisees and law teachers thought Jesus’ power came from Satan. “By the prince of demons he is driving out demons” (Mk3:22). In other words, they were giving the devil credit for work done by the Holy Spirit. I would say that is fairly slanderous! In Luke’s account the context is a little different. This time Jesus was preaching to a crowd of “many thousands” when He gave them this famous couplet:

“I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.” (Lk 12:8-9)

Right there you have a baseball bat for whacking every single believer who has been cowardly in their witness. Well, you would, if Jesus didn’t immediately follow up with this:

“And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Lk 12:10)

What are the forgiven sins?

Peters of the world be encouraged! Peter disowned Jesus before men but Jesus declares of him, “he’s forgiven!” When Jesus warned us about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, He made it clear that the sin of speaking a bad word against the Son of Man, like all sins and blasphemies, will be forgiven. If you grew up cursing God, be assured that this sin – along with all your sins and blasphemies – was indeed forgiven when Jesus went to the cross (Col 2:13). You may have cursed God, but He has blessed you! How? By removing your sins as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12).

People sometimes ask me, why do you grace preachers say all our sins are forgiven? The answer is, because Jesus said so! This is the Good News and either you take Him at His word or you don’t. You are not forgiven because of anything you’ve done but in accordance with the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7). But just because you’re forgiven, it doesn’t follow that you’re saved. Grace is ineffective unless it’s matched with faith (Eph 2:8). And this brings us to…

The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

As we have seen, to blaspheme someone is to slander or speak falsely about them. To understand what it means to speak falsely of the Holy Spirit, we must first discover what is true about Him and His ministry. Jesus tells us:

“When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” (Jn 16:8-11)

Before He died, Jesus said that His blood would be poured out for the forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28). If all the sins and blasphemies of men were forgiven at the cross, there’s only one sin the Holy Spirit can convict you of: “in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me.” Do you believe that you have been eternally redeemed through the blood of Jesus (He 9:12)? Do you believe the Spirit-inspired scriptures when they declare that Jesus’ sacrifice has done away with sin once and for all (He 9:26)? If not, you are resisting His conviction and calling Him a liar. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but the stakes are enormous. If you think you must do things like confess and repent from your sins in order to get what Christ has freely given, then you are denying Him and His finished work. You are walking after the flesh and slandering the Spirit. What’s the solution? Jesus tells us: “repent and believe the good news” (Mk 1:15)! Biblical confession means agreeing with the Holy Spirit about your sins (1 Jn 1:9). Although you were completely and eternally forgiven 2000 years ago, you will not experience that forgiveness until you say “yes!” to Jesus.

Jesus also said, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and law-teachers, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20). Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul declared that the gospel reveals a righteousness from God, a gift that is received by faith from first to last (Rms 1:17). You are not righteous because of anything you’ve done, but because of everything He’s done. On the cross Jesus took our sin and gave us His righteousness (2 Co 5:21). In Christ you are as righteous as He is (1 Co 1:30). The second aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to convict you of your righteousness. If you believe Him you will look at yourself in the mirror and confidently declare, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!”

The third aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is that He will seek to utterly convince you that the prince of this world is condemned. You are not condemned, Satan is. If you are responsive to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, you will confidently declare, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” You will ask with wonder, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” With a firm revelation of the Father’s love for you – revealed through the Son and affirmed in your heart by the Spirit – you will have no fear of punishment (1 Jn 4:18). You won’t wonder whether God gives and takes away and you won’t view natural disasters as divine judgments. Instead of confessing your sins you will boldly confess your sonship and lay claim to all the rights of intimacy and inheritance that come with that (Gal 4:7).

The Holy Spirit must be the most misunderstood Person in the Bible. I plan to write more about the Him and His ministry over Easter. But to answer the question at the top of this post – what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? – it is refusing to believe the Holy Spirit’s testimony regarding the grace of God revealed through Jesus Christ. In a word, it is unbelief. Unbelief may manifest in a hard heart or in a religious spirit that confuses the devil’s work with the Lord’s. In either case, to resist the Holy Spirit is to trample the Son of God underfoot and treat as unholy the blood of the new covenant that sanctifies us. It is slanderous and insulting to the Spirit of grace who seeks to convince us – through the written word and revelation – that Jesus is true, you are forgiven, and He now offers you the free gift of His righteousness.

As we will see in the coming posts, the Holy Spirit is not some Divine Policeman in the sky with a great big whacking stick. He’s actually the most awesome, powerful, and wonderful Being in the universe. And He is absolutely committed to your success in Christ!
___
Related posts:
- Who can take communion?
- What is the unforgiveable sin?
- Confession, conviction, confusion!

Before he was saved, Paul was a Pharisee (Php 3:5), and like any Pharisee he would’ve prayed the prayer seen on the left (source: Encyclopedia Talmudit, Vol.4, Jerusalem 1956, p.371). Religious pride feeds itself by drawing lines between us and them. It says, “Thank you God that I am not like other men” (Lk 18:11). But grace tears down dividing walls (Eph 2:14).

Paul was so radically changed after he encountered Grace on the road to Damascus, that religious distinctions no longer mattered. It was his revelation of Jesus, who loves all the children of the world, that prompted Paul to write the words you see on the right (Gal 3:28). Whether you are circumcised or uncircumcised, short or tall, left or right, rich or poor – the only thing that matters is that you are in Christ, who is your life (Gal 5:6, Col 3:4).

Aaargh! How I wish I could take those words back! Could I not see the staggering ungraciousness of my comments? Was I blind to the unholy line I was drawing between Us (welcome to take communion) and Them (not welcome)? Jesus died for all people, but not all were being invited to remember his death. How did I get so mixed up?

Like many pastors I was confused about the meaning of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11:26-32. I understood that the Corinthians had been making fools of themselves by gorging and getting drunk at communion, so I thought that Paul wrote to warn them of the dire consequences of acting irreverently:

“He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself…” (1 Cor 11:29 KJV)

I now understand that Paul was saying something completely different and wholly liberating about proclaiming the Lord’s death. He wasn’t condemning the Corinthians for their poor behavior. He was trying to free them from the condemnation of their ignorance and unbelief. This distinction is obvious when you think about it. I mean, how could Paul preach condemnation to the Corinthian Christians in one letter while preaching no condemnation to the Roman Christians in another?

Somehow Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11 have been twisted into a worthiness test for communion. “Examine yourself before you eat the bread and drink of the cup.” Okay, but how do we do that? How do I know if I’m worthy or about to eat and drink damnation to myself? Some denominations helpfully mandate minimum standards of worthiness. They say you must be a believer or a baptized believer or a welcomed member of the church or what-have-you. But the lines are blurry. The standards differ even within denominations as many individual churches have the freedom to set their own worthiness benchmarks.

Perhaps what we need is some kind of Christian caste system. India’s caste system is pretty good at separating the rabble from the rest. Maybe we can learn from them. At the bottom would be sinners because someone who rejects Jesus is obviously not worthy. That’s basically what I was saying in my church. By telling visitors (they might be sinners! who let them in here?) that they were “free” not to partake of communion I was sending the message, “this is not for you – you’re not good enough for Jesus.” I was judging them as unworthy of the body and blood. Of course I didn’t think of it in such terms. I thought I was honoring Jesus and protecting sinners from judgment. Slowly it began to dawn on me that there was something odd about denying communion to sinners. Afterall, didn’t Jesus die for sinners?

Religion draws lines between us and them, but grace tears down dividing walls (Eph 2:14). Nowhere in the Bible will you find any hint of a suggestion that we should exclude people from communion. This is a death-dealing tradition of man. When I said communion was for us but not for them, I was acting religiously and in a manner wholly opposed to the Spirit of grace. Happily, I repented. I changed my tune and began saying, “all are welcome.” I then watched amazed as the Holy Spirit revealed the love and grace of God to those who didn’t know Him.

Who can partake of communion?

Communion is when we remember Jesus’ death on the cross. So who’s it for? Obviously it’s for all those He died for. It’s for everyone. But I want to single out two groups who can especially benefit from communion:

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” ~ Jesus (Mk 2:17)

1. The sick

Sickness and death are part of sin’s curse (Ge 2:17). In Deuteronomy 28:15-68 there is a long list of curses that result from disobedience to God’s commands. These include “severe and lingering illnesses” along with “every kind of sickness not recorded in the Book of Law” (v.59-60). There is no sickness that is not part of the curse. Even modern-day sicknesses (e.g., anorexia, HIV, DVT) are covered.

During His time on earth Jesus healed every sick person who came to Him (Mt 12:15, Mk 6:56). Not one person went away unhealed. Jesus did this to demonstrate His complete and irresistible power over sin and all its effects. So before you eat and drink, examine yourself to see if there are things in your life – sickness, disease, afflictions (Is 53:4, AMP) – that Jesus carried in His body and paid for in His blood. If you are sick, proclaim His death and triumphant victory over sin and death! Identify your illness as a defeated enemy and lift up the Name of Him who is above every sickness. He was wounded that you might be healed, and cursed that you might be blessed (Gal 3:13, 1 Pe 2:24). Take your Jesus’ Medicine and be well!

2. Sinners

In the old covenant, sinners and unclean people were kept far away lest they contaminate the righteous. If there had been communion back then, they would not have got it! But Jesus was a friend of sinners. He went into their houses and broke bread with them. He met with thieves, adulterers and murderers and “contaminated” them with His righteousness. Sinners were radically changed by His awesome grace.

By saying “communion is only for the worthy” we have turned a new covenant blessing into an old covenant curse and denied grace to those who need it most. If communion is only for the deserving, who can qualify? Outside of Christ there are no worthy people! If you think you are worthy because of your religious performance, then you disqualify yourself, for Jesus did not come to call the self-righteous.

Here’s the good news: Jesus is still a friend of sinners! He died for us while we were sinners and He reconciled us to God while we were His enemies (Rm 5:8,10). People who hesitate over communion – both saints and sinners – do so because they are distracted by their imperfections. They draw back like Old Testament lepers because they believe that they are unclean. But you have been redeemed by the most precious commodity in the universe – the infinitely precious blood of Jesus (1 Pe 1:19). If God loves you enough to die for you, then in His eyes you must be really something special. And you are!

Communion is not a time for self-examination but Jesus-examination! The only thing that will empower you to overcome sin is the grace of God and it’s not stored in your navel. Look to Jesus! His blood bought your forgiveness and His death triumphed over all your sin. See yourself crucified with Him (Ga 2:20). Reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to Christ (Rm 6:11). He is our perfect high priest, a Lamb without blemish or defect. Don’t draw back but come boldly to the throne of grace for Christ Himself qualifies you.

The next time someone says “communion is only for the worthy,” don’t be distracted by your sin – it’s been done away with by the blood of Jesus and God remembers it no more (He 8:12). Instead, remind yourself that Christ died for the unworthy. Tell yourself, “He died for me, and because of Him I am now the very righteousness of God, holy and blameless (Eph 1:4). Glory to God and thank you Jesus!”
___
Related posts:
- 1 Corinthians 11:26-32
- The Gospel in one word, two words…
- Taking communion in an unworthy manner

Religion can be defined as man’s attempt to impress God. It is an attitude that says, “I can make something of myself, I can earn God’s favor.” Although it may lead to works that are charitable, this mindset is fatally opposed to grace of God. It causes a man to stand when he should bow and to strut when he should kneel. Worst of all, it causes him to see himself as a co-savior. His motives may be sincere, but he is an idol-worshipper.

Jesus didn’t suffer and die on the cross to make you religious. He died and rose again to give you a new life – His life. Anything that pretends to be a substitute for the thrill of knowing Him – of trusting Him, being with Him, and walking with Him – should be rejected as inferior.

If any of the statements in the test above describes you, then you might be a little bit religious. Here’s why…

Are you preoccupied with doing the right thing?

God is looking for relationship, but a religious person is more concerned with following the rules. Their motto could be, “Just tell me what I must do and I will do it.” Whether you define the “right thing” as the 10 commandments, the words of Jesus, your church traditions, or whatever, to live by a code of conduct is infinitely inferior to the life Christ wants to live through us. It is eating from the wrong tree.

Adam chose independence from God. An independent spirit wants to decide for himself and thus prefers rules to relationship. But someone under grace says, I trust Him from start to finish, He will lead me in the right path (Ps 23:3). Your choice is rules or relationship. You cannot reduce relationship to a set of rules. (Try it with your marriage and see how far that gets you!) Live by rules and you’re setting yourself up for failure, for any kind of law will stimulate sin and lead to death (Rms 7:5). Even when you do the right thing it’ll be the wrong thing because you’re operating in an independent spirit instead of walking by faith (Rms 14:23). But when you choose to abide in Christ – when He is your all in all – you’ll find yourself doing the right thing at the right time every time. If you haven’t heard this before, then take a moment to read the good news.

Do you act as if God is keeping score?

A performance mentality is central to all the religions of the world: Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad. The problem with this is your best is not good enough. If God was keeping score, all of us would fall short. Thus it is natural for a religious person to suffer from performance anxiety. God doesn’t grade on the curve and He’s not obligated to pass a certain percentage of the class. In fact, He expects perfection and nothing less. So either you must deliver a perfect performance or you must put your faith in a perfect representative. Jesus is our perfect High Priest (Heb 7:28). Trust Him!

Contrary to what religion will tell you, we are not justified by what we do but by grace alone (Rms 3:24). His grace and our works do not mix. Indeed, they nullify each other out (Rms 11:6). Grace is God’s part; faith is our part (Eph 2:8). Faith is saying, “thank you Jesus!” Faith doesn’t just get you started; it’s faith from first to last (Rms 1:17).

Are you sin-conscious?

Sin-consciousness is the strongest indicator of a religious mindset. Gifts and sacrifices will do nothing to clear the guilty conscience of a religious person (Heb 9:9). The only remedy is a revelation of the blood of Jesus shed for your forgiveness (Heb 9:14, Mt 26:28). Through His one-time sacrifice for the sins of the world, Jesus has done away with sin (1 Jn 2:2, Heb 9:26). Sin was a problem, but because of Jesus it is no longer a problem. So what is the problem? The problem now is whether you will choose to believe in the all-sufficiency of Christ and His finished work. Religion will keep the focus on you and your unworthiness, but grace focuses on Christ and His worthiness.

Are you motivated by your Christian duty?

Religion cries, “Jesus died for you. What will you do for Him?” I would do anything for Jesus, but if my motivation is a perceived debt, then I’ve missed grace. God didn’t send His Son to fetch an army of servants. Jesus came out of love. A religious person is motivated by their love for Christ, but we are to be motivated by Christ’s love for us. As Paul said, “Christ’s love compels us” (2 Co 4:14). God is not looking for us to impress Him with our love; He wants to impress us with His.

Whether they call it duty or responsibility, a religious person fundamentally believes that he is obligated or indebted to God. They want to work so that they no longer owe God. Indeed, they want God to owe them. They want to be in a position where God will have to bless them because of what they’ve done. This debt-consciousness is opposed to the grace of God for grace comes with no strings attached. There is no quid pro quo in the kingdom. Everything comes by the “exceeding riches of His grace” (Eph 2:7) and is received by faith. Don’t cheapen His grace by thinking you have a duty or responsibility to pay Him back. Your responsibility is to believe that He is good and true! It is not our obligation to serve the Lord, it is our royal privilege. It is not our duty, but our great delight.

Do you live in fear of God’s anger?

Listen to a religious person and you might get the impression that God is a temperamental and abusive Father who sometimes lashes out in fits of righteous wrath. A religious person sees Jesus as a sort of go-between, someone who’ll stand in the gap and take the heat for us. But the truth is that God the Father, Son and Spirit are perfectly united in purpose and character. If you want to know what God the Father is like, look at the Son (Heb 1:3).

Does God get angry with us? Look at the oath He swore in Isaiah 54:9-10 for an answer. He has promised to never be angry with us or punish us. Do you believe that God would flood the earth as He did in the days of Noah? Of course not – He promised He wouldn’t. In Isaiah 54:9-10 God says, “this is like that – if you believe that promise, believe this one too. I will not be angry with you.” At great personal cost God has forged an eternal and unshakeable covenant of peace. We are the beneficiaries of this covenant. Why did He do it? Because He is love and He loves us. When you get a revelation of His love, your fear of punishment will evaporate (1 Jn 4:18). “But didn’t Jesus say He might blot some of us out of the Book of Life?” Nope. God doesn’t use correction fluid. “But what about that verse where He says He will spew some out of His mouth?” True, there is one thing that makes Jesus sick, and that’s religion. The Laodiceans had it in spades. Make sure you don’t.

Do you like doing things for God?

Contrary to what religion has told you, we are not called to work for God but to do the work of God (Jn 6:29). Big difference! Working for God reveals our initiative, but faith is always a response to what God is doing or has done. In the Bible there are “dead works” and “good works.” Dead works are those activities that seem right to us but which lead to death (Pro 16:25). Good works are those which have been prepared by God in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10). Dead works require no faith – if you have the resources you can do them. Good works always reveal the Father and usually involve healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, and driving out demons (Mt 10:8). As always, Jesus is our role model. He did nothing on His own initiative yet lived a full and fruitful life in response to the Father (Jn 5:19).

Do you see yourself mainly as a servant of God?

Here is the question that separates the religious from the righteous: Do you see God as your heavenly Father, your Papa? A religious person will hesitate to respond, scandalized by the thought that he can speak of the Almighty in such familiar terms. Then a verse will come to mind and he will say, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God…” A religious person is content to be nothing more than a servant, and thus they miss the best thing of all.

There are only two kinds of people in the world: sons and orphans. Which are you? The devil’s desire is to have you so confused about your identity that you will relate to God in any way except as a son. A religious person will usually relate to God as a Master, but Jesus came to reveal the Father. Perhaps you left the pig trough with a prepared speech that began, “make me like one of your hired hands” (Lk 15:19). God is not interested that speech! He is not recruiting servants; He wants sons! Like the prodigal, you may see yourself as no more than a servant, but God sees you as a son (Rms 8:15, Gal 4:6). Don’t argue with your Father.
___
Related posts:

I started blogging on 5 February 2010 for no other reason than I couldn’t help myself. I had words inside me that needed to get out. I didn’t know if anyone would want to read them, but to those of you who have, thanks! And to those of you who’ve taken the time to respond, either with comments or emails, double-thanks!

Why do I write? I don’t write to make Jesus look good; I write because Jesus is good! I write because the good news of God’s grace is the goodest news you ever heard. The good news is that God is good and He loves you more than you love yourself. There’s no badness in God and there’s no bad news in the good news. He’s good all the way through and the good news is good all the way through. If you’ve been told there is a catch – that the good news is too good to be true and that you must earn what God freely gives – you’ve been misinformed. Real love has no hook and there is no catch. God is good!

On this first anniversary of E2R, I thought it might be fun to highlight the best, the worst, and the most controversial posts of the past year. Thanks for sharing the journey with me.

Most popular post: With a couple of thousand page views, Does God Give and Take Away? (a.k.a. the Job post) is the most-read post. It is also one of the most controversial posts I’ve written. Who would’ve thought that I could upset so many brothers and sisters by saying that our heavenly Father is neither a killer nor a thief?

Most important post: Son, Servant or Friend of God? Are you a victim of identity theft?

Least important post: What Would Jesus Drive? I thought this post would stimulate some fun dialogue but I was wrong. Evidently I’m the only one who ponders these sorts of questions. But think about it; if Christian’s aren’t allowed to drive BMWs, as I heard a famous preacher once say, what would Jesus drive? I offer a number of viable suggestions.

Most unexpected post: Laodicea Part 1 – Are You Hot Enough for God? This post led to an entire series on the Laodicean church. I never planned to write anything on Laodicea – it just sort of happened. Earlier in the year I had circulated an email to my grace buddies asking if any of them had any insight into the lukewarm issue (Rev 3:16). None of them did or, if they did, they weren’t telling! So I asked the Holy Spirit for some insight and 8 posts later I had to stop because I was in danger of getting carried away. This was fun to write!

Fastest-selling post: Seven Signs that You Might Be Living Under Law. The traffic stats on this post went ballistic from the minute it was published. I guess people wanted to check that they weren’t.

Most ignored post: Building Ramps for the Mentally Ill was met with a deafening silence. I’ve lived in Hong Kong and New Zealand, two societies that are plagued with mental illness. Mental illness is the leprosy of our generation yet few in the church want to talk about it.  It seems we are still the tail and not the head in tackling this scourge. Or maybe I just haven’t found the right words yet.

My favorite post: How to Read Your Bible Without Getting Confused. Short version: read everything through the lens of the cross. If you don’t get the cross, you won’t get grace. If you don’t get the cross, your Bible won’t make sense. Jesus’ finished work on the cross is the single most significant event in human history and your history.

Truth be told, my favorite post is always the one I’m currently working on. Honestly, I’m really excited about what God has been showing me lately about Himself and His purposes. It seems the more I know Him, the bigger and better He gets. Stick around, this is just going to get better.

Now substitute the word “marriage” for “forgiveness,” and “$50” for “confess-your-sins,” and you have the standard sermon on confession. “Forgiveness is wonderful. Forgiveness is a gift from God. God is so faithful that whenever we confess our sins, He will forgive us and restore our fellowship with Him.” It sounds good but it’s not. Yes, forgiveness is wonderful and God is faithful. But you cannot put a price tag on the free gift of forgiveness. Don’t let anyone charge you for what God has already given you.

We were forgiven at the cross by the blood of Jesus. Jesus did not die merely to secure our forgiveness – salvation is so much more than that – but forgiveness is the gift that unlocks all the other gifts. The Bible tells us that those who are uncertain about their forgiveness remain weak and unproductive. You might be confused about confession if you think it’s the Holy Spirit who is convicting you of your sins. So far in this study, we have looked at eight reasons why Christians never need to confess-to-be-forgiven. Today we will pull out the big guns and hopefully do away for good the diabolical lie that says Christians must confess-to-be-forgiven. Here are the final four reasons to be thankful for God’s gift of forgiveness.

9.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven puts us under law

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Rms 6:14)

Would you sing a hymn like this: “Your sacrifice is not good enough to do away with sin, Your blood was not sufficient to redeem me, You will not finish what you started, But with my help we can save me. We are co-Saviors.” Of course no believer would ever sing such nonsense! Yet that is exactly what we’re saying if we think we must confess-to-be-forgiven.

Living under law means more than keeping the 10 commandments. It means living by the power of the flesh in the vain hope of earning what God has freely given us. At the cross God cancelled the law that stood against us (Col 2:14) and without the law there is no transgression (Rms 4:15). All who rely on the law are under a curse (Gal 3:10), but because of Jesus we are now the “blessed man” whose sins God is no longer imputing (Rms 4:8). Jesus went to the cross so that you can live under the grace of God. If you who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb still think that you must confess-to-be-forgiven, then you are setting aside grace and cursing what God has blessed.

10.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven empowers sin and leads to death

“…the strength of sin is the law.” (1 Co 15:56)

If you live under the self-imposed law that says, “I must confess-to-be-forgiven,” then sin will have dominion over you (Rms 6:14). Rather than dealing with sin, this sort of confession actually makes things worse for it strengthens sin making it harder to resist the next time. Guess what happens when you follow this path to its logical conclusion? Romans 7:5 says that when we combine our fleshly performance with the law, sinful passions are aroused that work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Confessing-to-be-forgiven, like any law-based ministry, ultimately brings death (2 Co 3:7).

We are called to live by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for us (Gal 2:20). Our choice is simple: we can trust God that His work on the cross was sufficient, or we can trust the work of our flesh. When you sin it takes faith to look at the cross, listen to the Holy Spirit, and confess “I messed up, but because of Jesus I am still righteous! I am still forgiven!” It takes absolutely no faith to feel unrighteous and unforgiven. It takes faith to trust that God’s grace is greater than your sin; to trust that His grace will empower you to say no to ungodliness so you can go and sin no more (Tit 2:12). It takes no faith to believe you must make things right, perhaps through confession. Whatever is not of faith is sin (Rm 14:23). Call it for what it is: confessing-to-be-forgiven is the sin of unbelief in the goodness and grace of God.

11.    Confessing-to-be-forgiven keeps us from God

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus… let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience…” (Heb 10:19,22)

Another argument which is sometimes used to justify confession is that it restores our fellowship with God. Confessing our faults is certainly a good idea when we sin against each other (Jas 5:16). But don’t make the mistake of relating to God on human terms. God does not love us with human love. He doesn’t love us because we are lovable and open about our mistakes. He loves us because it’s in His nature to love us. He is love (1 Jn 4:16). Let’s not fool ourselves – even the best of us is wholly unworthy, wholly undeserving of His love. The good news is that He loves us anyway.

When you sin you may feel like you are distant from God even though He has promised to never leave nor forsake us (Heb 13:5). You messed up so you may feel like you need to do something to restore your relationship. But confessing-sins-to-get-rid-of-a-bad-feeling is to walk in the flesh; it is not the way of faith. It’s never a good idea to interpret your relationship with God through the filter of your feelings. Feelings should always follow facts and faith.

The facts of the matter are this: we had a debt we could not pay and Jesus paid it in full with His blood. All of our sins have been forgiven and we are now debt-free. The proper response in light of these facts is joy (Is 12:3). Faith looks at the cross and the empty tomb and shouts, “thank you Jesus!” If you are feeling bad because of a guilty conscience, you have misplaced your faith. You need to review the facts. According to Hebrews 10:22, the blood of Jesus is the best remedy for dealing with a guilty conscience. So instead of confessing your sins and reminding yourself of how unholy you are, confess the blood of Jesus that sanctifies you (Heb 9:13-14). Then draw near to God with the full assurance that faith brings.

12.    We’re called to be Christ-conscious, not sin-conscious

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (Jn 17:3)

Confessing-to-be-forgiven distracts us from the purpose of life which is to know and enjoy God our Father and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Confession tends to make us introspective and gloomy. When you look at all you’ve done wrong, how could you not get depressed? Our heavenly Father doesn’t want us to live like that. God didn’t send His Son to make us self-aware but Christ-aware. We don’t need healthy self-esteem, but life-giving Christ-esteem. The law makes us conscious of sin, but we are to be conscious of Christ our righteousness (Rm 3:20-22).

Every minute you spend dwelling on your sin is a minute wasted. You could’ve spent that time praising God for His mighty works! Instead of testifying of your badness, praise Him for His goodness. Instead of examining your unworthiness, celebrate His worth! Jesus died to make unworthy men worthy. If you were worthy, He would never have died for you. But you weren’t and He did and now you are! Glory to God!

If this is not practical enough for you, let me finish with Matthew 6:33. When you seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, all your unrighteous hang-ups will get taken care of. Make Jesus your focus. Hebrews 10:2 says that we’re not supposed to be conscious of our sins. How can we confess something we’re not conscious of? As a man thinks, so he is (Pro 23:7). If you think of yourself as a reformed sinner saved by grace, you’ll never be anything more than just a sinner. It’s smart for sinners to confess their sins (1 Jn 1:9), when confession means agreeing with God about our need for a Savior. But when a Christian confesses-to-be-forgiven, he’s acting like a sinner. He has become an unbelieving believer, a living contradiction. He’s like a married person who still acts as if he’s single. See yourself as God sees you. God calls you a son (Gal 4:6). Confess what you are, not what you were. Confess your sonship not your sinnership.

God’s great gift of forgiveness

Knowing that you have been forgiven by the grace of God is just about the best thing in the world! Forgiveness is a great gift and worth protecting; don’t let anyone take it from you. Don’t let anyone charge you for what Jesus has already paid for.

Nowhere in the New Testament do you find believers confessing their sins to be forgiven. Confessing-to-be-forgiven is an extra-Biblical church tradition. It is one of those things that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death (Pro 14:12). It is a work of the flesh that kills faith, nullifies grace, and treats as unholy the blood of the covenant that sanctifies us.

In this study we have reviewed 12 reasons why those who have been born again never need to confess-to-be-forgiven. You don’t have to do something you’ve already done to gain something you already have.

Be blessed!

___
Related posts:
- Two religions: Works and blood
- How do we pervert the gospel of Christ?
- Seven signs that you might be living under law

What’s wrong with this picture? Everything! It suggests that God the Son and God the Father have different natures, that One loves us unconditionally, but the other can’t see past our sin. Even if you don’t know your Bible you can probably see how ridiculous this is.

Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus is the “exact representation” of God’s nature. He is the visible image of invisible God (Col 1:15). Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). If you want to know what God the Father is like, look at Jesus. They are different people, but they share the same character, the same heart, and the same spiritual DNA. The gospel tells us that Jesus was sent by God the Father and empowered by God the Holy Spirit to save the world. Contrary to what you may have heard, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are very much on the same page when it comes to your forgiven-ness.

A Christian is someone who has received the gift of God’s forgiveness. By trusting in God’s grace, they experience today that which God provided 2000 years ago, namely salvation through the finished work of the cross. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this study we looked at six reasons why Christians never need to confess their sins to be forgiven. Perhaps you confess your sins because you are uncertain about your forgiveness. You know that Jesus died for your sins, but you may think that God is keeping records and that the Holy Spirit is convicting you and leading you to do works of confession. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here are two more reasons why those who have been forgiven don’t need to confess-to-be-forgiven:

7.    God chooses to forget your sin

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Heb 8:12)

Confession usually involves telling God about our sins (as if He didn’t know!). But why would we want to remind Him of things that He has chosen to forget? Somehow we have bought into this idea that God is in heaven recording all of our sins onto DVDs and on Judgment Day He’s going to embarrass us by playing movies of our mistakes. But this is not what the Bible says! God does not impute our trespasses to us (2 Cor 5:19). He is in the reconciliation business, not the shaming business. When you confess-to-be-forgiven you are imputing sins to yourself that God Himself is not counting. In other words, you are acting unlike your heavenly Father.

Under the law covenant it was important to keep track of and account for every sin, but the new covenant is characterized by loving forgetfulness (Jer 31:34). Did God suddenly have a change of heart after the cross? Did His memory suddenly go faulty? No, God never changes. He is the same today, yesterday and forever. The Bible refers to the law covenant as a fading and therefore temporary arrangement (2 Co 3:11). Although God chose to relate to people for a time through this fault-finding covenant in order that we might learn the seriousness of sin and see our need for Jesus, His own nature is otherwise. He has always loved us (Jer 31:3) and love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Co 13:5).

On the cross God the Father made Jesus be sin for us that we might become His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus was not acting alone but in perfect submission to His Father’s will (Lk 22:42). Forgiving you was the Father’s idea; making Jesus be sin that you might become righteous was His work. Because God the Father relates to you through His sinless Son, He chooses to remember your sins and lawless deeds no more.

Why did God do all this? Because He is love and He loves us. For God the Father so loved the sinful world that He sent His only Son. When you see the Father’s heart of love behind the Son’s redemptive work, you will no longer fear sin. You won’t be worried about those sin-DVDs because God isn’t making any. When you begin to grasp the Father’s love, you will even look forward to Judgment Day with boldness (1 Jn 4:17). Where does this confidence come from? It comes from knowing that we have “grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son” (2 Jn 1:3).

8.    The Holy Spirit is not convicting you

“The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this… ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’” (Heb 10:15,17)

Some believers feel impressed to confess their sins because they think the Holy Spirit is convicting them. Only He doesn’t. How could the Holy Spirit convict us of something He chooses not to remember? Look at what He says: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” You can take those words to the bank! They are truth and life. God the Son died to do away with sin. Because of what Jesus has done, neither God the Father (Heb 8:12) nor God the Holy Spirit (Heb 10:17) remembers your sins any more. If the Holy Spirit were convicting you, then the Godhead would be a house divided.

You may say, “I know I’ve sinned because my conscience has been pricked. Isn’t that the Holy Spirit’s conviction?” Nope. Have you ever wondered how you know when you have sinned? Most people have an innate knowledge of good and evil because of what happened in the Garden of Eden. But where that moral compass is rusty, the law kicks in with fault-finding force. “I would not have known sin except through the law” (Rms 7:7). If you are feeling condemned, don’t blame the Holy Spirit! It’s the law that condemns you. Some try and wriggle out of this by distinguishing conviction from condemnation. They say conviction is good and comes from God, but condemnation is bad and comes from the devil. But if we’re talking sin then there’s no scripture that supports this distinction. The word convict, as found in the NIV translation of John 16:8, literally means to refute, find fault and call to account. This is what the law was designed to do (2 Co 3:9), in order that you might be led to Jesus and receive His gift of no condemnation (Rm 8:1).

As an expression of His love and mercy, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of the sin of unbelief. But the only thing He “convicts” or rather, convinces, Christians of is their righteousness (Jn 16:8-10). When you sin, your conscience may convict you, the law may convict you, and the Spanish Inquisition may convict you. But while all of this convicting is going on, the Holy Spirit will be there to remind you of your right standing in Christ. Your righteous acts don’t make you righteous; neither do your unrighteous acts make you unrighteous. Only Christ makes you righteous. If you listen to your sin, you will think you are damaged goods only capable of screwing up. But if you listen to the Holy Spirit, He will tell you that you are as righteous as Jesus and capable of living right. This is not a challenge to live right through will-power – the Holy Spirit will never promote a flesh trip. This is a call to continue living in Christ the same way you started – by faith (Col 2:6). Listen to your sins and you’ll end up a victim, but be led by the Spirit and you will be more than a conqueror!

God is not a fault-finder

Jesus did not sneak out of heaven on a secret mercy mission and God did not have a change of heart after the cross. Your heavenly Father is not a fault-finder. Neither is the Holy Spirit.

When you confess-to-be-forgiven, you are essentially trying to make yourself good enough for God. You’re saying, “I messed up, but I can fix it.” Well, you are half right! But you are fooling yourself if you think you can fix what sin broke. Jesus died to set our minds free from acts that lead to death (Heb 9:14) and confessing-to-be-forgiven is a dead act. It may make you feel momentarily good about yourself, but as we will see in the final part of this study, this sort of confession ultimately leads to death and defeat. True confession is agreeing with God and God says all your sins were forgiven at the cross for all time by the blood of Jesus. Confess that!

___
Related posts:
- Top 12 blessings in the new covenant
- What keeps Christians weak and unproductive?
- Incomplete deeds: The zombie church of Sardis (Rev 3:1-6)

Christmas is the time when we celebrate God’s good gifts embodied in His Son. Of the many gifts God has given us, forgiveness is the first. It is the gift that unlocks all the other gifts. Do you need healing? Then take heart – your sins are forgiven! If Jesus has borne your sins, He is has borne your sicknesses as well (Is 53:4). In Christ you have been forgiven of sin and set free from all its effects including sickness. However, if you don’t know for sure that you have been forgiven, then you will have a hard time receiving healing. You may even think that you deserve your sickness or, worse, that God made you sick.

Forgiveness is the gift that everyone needs, but you will never receive it if you think you have to do something to get it. In Part 1 of this study, we looked at three reasons why Christians can never earn God’s forgiveness through confession. In today’s post we will look at three more reasons why Christians never need to confess-to-be-forgiven. Before you write in and tell me that you find confession helpful and liberating, let me reiterate that I am not against confession. It is good to be open and transparent about our weaknesses and failings. What I am opposed to is the lie that says Christians must confess, or do anything, to maintain their forgiveness. If you routinely confess-to-be-forgiven you’re actually disobeying God and cursing what He has blessed. Instead of being a stepping stone to your deliverance and healing, the Bible teaches that this sort of confession will actually empower sin and minister death to you.

The remedy for any lie is the truth. So following on from Part 1, here are three more wonderful promises regarding your forgiveness:

4.   You were forgiven completely for all time

“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” (Heb 10:12)

Jesus’ death on the cross was a once-off sacrifice offered for all time. It was perfectly perfect in every respect and there is nothing you can do to improve upon it. Those who take 1 John 1:9 as their justification for trying to earn what we’ve already been given, need to pay more careful attention to what John is saying: the blood of Jesus purifies us from “all sin” (1:7) and cleanses us from “all unrighteousness” (1:9). All means all. “All sin” includes the sins we haven’t done yet and all the sins we have never confessed.

Jesus went to the cross as humanity’s sinless representative. With His dying breath God the Son asked God the Father to forgive us (Lk 23:34). Then having fully satisfied the requirements of the law that stood against us, and having forged a new covenant in His blood, Jesus declared “it is finished” and gave up His spirit. His redemptive work complete, Jesus now sits at the right hand of God waiting for His saints to rise up boldly in their forgiven-ness and put His enemies – sickness, poverty, oppression – under their feet and His.

Jesus will never go to the cross again. If you sin today, He is not going back to Calvary tomorrow. Asking Him to forgive you again is like saying His first sacrifice was not enough – that you really need Him to get back up on the cross. This is disgraceful (Heb 6:6), but “we are confident of better things in your case” (Heb 6:9). Rejoice that His one-time sacrifice paid for it all and you are eternally forgiven. When you sin, guess what – you are still forgiven! God’s grace is greater than your sin. I’m not encouraging sin and if you are choosing to live in sin then you are unacquainted with the grace of God that teaches us to say no to sin. But if you trust in Jesus and His finished work, then rest assured that nothing in the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither life nor death, can separate you from God’s forgiveness. Hallelujah!

5.   You were forgiven in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Eph 1:7)

What is the limiting measure of God’s forgiveness? Is it our performance? Is the state of our confession? No! We are forgiven according to the riches of God’s grace. God is not stingy with grace. How do we know God is gracious? Because He has forgiven us and His forgiveness is 100% a gift. If you have to do something to get it, then it is no longer a gift but an obligation, and God owes you nothing.

Jesus forgave the paralytic before the man had uttered a single word. He forgave the adulterer who was speechless with sin. One didn’t say anything and the other couldn’t say anything, yet Jesus forgave them both. Jesus forgave to demonstrate that He had authority to forgive. Forgiveness is His business, His decision, His initiative, and His gift to us. The only thing you have to do is receive it, and the only way you won’t receive it is if you try to earn it through confession or other dead works.

6.   Your sins are long gone

“But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Heb 9:26b)

In the Bible, the word “forgive” literally means to send away. You sin hasn’t merely been overlooked, it has been abolished (AMP), put away (ASV), and removed (GNB). Neither has God put away your sins in the same way that you might put your rubbish in a bin by the back door – close by and smelly. He has removed them from you as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12). If you were to go looking for your sins, you wouldn’t find them. They’re gone! They’ve all been blotted out (Is 44:22).

You may ask, but what about the sin I did just this morning? Like all your sin this one was dealt with at the cross. It was not recorded as a black mark next to your name because God is not in the business of imputing sin (Rms 4:8). God’s got better things to do than count men’s sins against them (2 Cor 5:19). It is human nature to keep score but this is not God’s nature. God is love and love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Co 13:5). Your Father is not a fault-finder. If you were to ask Him about this morning’s sin, He would say, “What sin? I have no record of that sin. Stop looking for it and look to Jesus.”

You did have a sin problem, but God dealt with it by nailing it to the cross (Rm 6:6). This circumcision of your old nature was not done by the hand of man, but by Christ Himself (Col 2:11). You have been given a new nature with new desires. As you renew your mind you will come to see that although sin is destructive and best avoided, it cannot touch His love for you. God is quite able to deal with your sin and the axe of His forgiveness has already been laid at the root of that bad tree!

Jesus – not confession – is the cure for condemnation

The amazing thing about Jesus is that He forgives us in advance. We “go and sin no more,” not to get free from condemnation, but because we are free from condemnation. The secret to overcoming sin is not found in making promises we can’t keep, but in knowing that Jesus believes in us! Stop examining yourself and examine Him! He’s altogether wonderful. Stop confessing your sins and confess Jesus your Redeemer. Confess that He is your wisdom from God – your forgiven-ness, your righteousness and your holiness (1 Cor 1:30).

In the next part of this study, we will look at two of the biggest misconceptions people have about God’s forgiveness.

(PS: If you want to be among the first to read new posts from E2R, put your email address in the subscription box found near the top of the sidebar on the right.)

___
Related posts:
- Two religions: Works and blood
- By which gospel are you saved?
- God doesn’t do half-jobs: Why partial forgiveness is completely bogus