All well and good. But what about the other point? Shouldn’t we turn from sin when we come to Jesus? You would certainly think so judging by the popularity of this verse:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chr 7:14)

Thank God for the cross that changed everything! In the old covenant, God’s blessings were conditional on you humbling, praying, seeking, and turning. (Phew! What if you only did three of those things? Would you get three-quarter forgiveness?) But in the new covenant, God’s blessings are poured out on us on account of Jesus:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Eph 1:3)

Here’s a question to see if you have been paying attention. If we have been blessed with “every spiritual blessing in Christ,” what blessings remain for us outside of Christ? None! Starting with salvation, every blessing comes to us by grace through faith. Every. Single. Blessing.

So with Jesus as our secure foundation, how do we define repentance? Since I have compared the old- and new covenant definitions in another post, I just want to give you a simple picture. Here it is…

In the new covenant, repentance literally means change your mind. Nothing more, nothing less. It is not something we initiate so much as it is a response to the good news. When Jesus said, “Repent and believe the good news” (Mk 1:15), He was literally saying, “Change your unbelieving mind and believe the glad tidings of the kingdom which is at hand.” We don’t repent to manipulate God into bringing his kingdom down; we repent because His kingdom is already at hand. (The King has come!) We don’t repent to get forgiven; we repent because we are forgiven. (He remembers your sins no more!)

In the old covenant, repentance implied a turning from, as in “turn from sin.” But in the new, repentance means a turning to, as in “turn to God.” Here’s Paul:

First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. (Act 26:20)

Do you see why the new is better? Under the old, you could turn from sin to… more sin! For instance, if you managed to turn from some nasty habits, your religious flesh would soon get puffed up with pride. Just look at the Pharisees. I doubt anyone repented (i.e., turned from sin) as much as they did. But in the new, there is only one direction to turn, and that is towards God. And as we turn towards Him, we inevitably turn from sin. This is why we don’t find Paul praying like this: “I keep asking God to help you reprobates turn from your stinking sin”! No, Paul prayed that we would know Him better.

As we change our minds and come to walk in the revelation that Jesus is lovely and God is good and He thinks we’re special, we find that the things of this world grow strangely dim. We walk away from sin effortlessly because we are captivated by something, Someone, infinitely better.
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Related posts:
- 3 reasons why I don’t preach repentance (“turn from sin”)
- 7 signs that you might be living under law
- 5 ways that Jesus revealed grace

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!
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Related posts:
- Are sinners forgiven too?
- What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
- Seven signs that you might be living under law

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.
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- Your glorious new past
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- Confession, conviction, confusion!

1. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, (Col 2:11)

2. So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Rm 7:25b)

Do you see the problem? In the first verse Paul says our sinful nature has been circumcised by Christ. His sinful nature is gone. But in the second verse he admits that he still has a sinful nature, one that keeps him enslaved to sin. So which is it? Do we have a sinful nature or don’t we? Better read some more scriptures:

3. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (Gal 5:24)

Oh good, our sinful nature has gone. That’s a relief.

4. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Rm 13:14)

Huh? How could I gratify the desires of my sinful nature? I thought I didn’t have one anymore? Guess I still do.

5. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. (Rm 7:5)

Now Paul’s saying it’s in our past again. We were controlled. So we’re not controlled by our sinful nature anymore right? So it’s gone right?

6. Hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. (1 Co 5:5)

Okay, now I’m really confused. This man, who “calls himself a brother,” still has a sinful nature. His sinful nature wasn’t circumcised by Jesus but is now about to be destroyed by Satan so he can be saved. But why would the devil want to destroy someone’s sinful nature? And why would Satan want to help someone get saved?

Isn’t this a little confusing?

There is a simple explanation for these puzzling scriptures – they are all poor translations found exclusively in the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible.

What’s going on at the Zondervan factory?

Now I love the NIV – it’s one of my favorite English Bibles – but its translators really tied themselves in knots when it came to writing about our so-called sinful nature. Do we have a sinful nature? We don’t. Second Peter 1:4 says we are partakers of His divine nature. In truth, the sinful nature versus new nature debate is barely mentioned in the Bible. To say you got a new nature when you were born again is like saying you got a new steering wheel when you bought a car. It’s true, but it’s only part of a larger story. When you were born again you didn’t just get a new nature, but a whole new life. You used to be dead but now you’re alive (Col 2:11). You used to be one kind of creature but now you’re another (2 Co 5:17).

So what’s going on with these six verses above? Not only are they contradictory but some of them seem to say we have something (a sinful nature) that we clearly do not have. In five of these verses (no.s 2-6), Paul is actually talking about our flesh (sarx in Greek). The word “flesh” refers to our physical bodies or our sensual nature. It’s that part of us that we would describe as natural as opposed to spiritual. Our bodies and our natural senses were given to us by God; we need them to live. Theologians who say that our flesh is inherently evil might as well say that Jesus was evil. Afterall, Jesus was the Living Word made flesh (Jn 1:14). True, Jesus wasn’t born under the curse of sin and death like we were. But He had all the same appetites we have and He was tempted in every way. He had the full flesh experience yet remained without sin (Heb 4:15).

Everything God made is good and that includes the flesh. The problems come when we walk after the flesh, when we choose to live in the inferior realm of the flesh rather than the superior realm of the spirit. The sinner has no choice in this matter – he remains in the flesh and the flesh is all he knows. But we who have been born of the spirit can choose. We can walk after the old way of the flesh or we can walk after the new way of the spirit (Rm 8:5). This is why the Bible exhorts those of us who are in the spirit to walk in the spirit (Gal 5:25). It’s saying “renew your mind and choose!” Put off the old and put on the new. There are chapters and chapters that explain this new way of life for us (e.g., Eph 4, Col 3). To choose the way of the flesh is to be, what the King Jimmy writers call, “carnal-minded.” Carnal-mindedness, for the born again spirit-filled believer, is a choice not a condition and it’s a choice that runs contrary to our new nature.

Verse 1 in the list above is a little different. In this verse the words “sinful nature” do not refer to the flesh but the “body of sin” or the “body of the sins of the flesh” that Jesus cut off you. Paul is basically saying that you were a slave to sin but you’re not anymore (see Rm 6:6). Even the NIV is perfectly clear about this: You have been “freed from sin;” “You have been set free from sin;” “You have been set free from sin” (Rm 6:7,18,22). This is wonderful news. When you were in the flesh you weren’t free to choose but now that you’re in the spirit you are!

So why do I still sin?

From time to time you’re going to sin and when you do you may wonder why you did it. If you read certain passages in the NIV you might conclude that it’s because you still possess a sinful nature. You may think that you’re hard-wired to sin and that you need to die to self. But that’s simply not true! You died already. You are not a saint with a sinful nature any more than you are a reformed sinner. Read what the Bible says about you. You are a completely new creation with new desires. We sin because we sometimes choose to walk by sight and not by faith (Rm 14:23). We may do it out of habit. We may do it out of ignorance. But when we set our minds on inferior earthly things and indulge the lusts of the flesh we are acting out of character. We are acting hypocritically by pretending to be someone we are not.

This is an important truth because so many Christians are striving to arrive at where they already are. They’re trying to improve themselves through self-denial and, in doing so, are walking hard after the flesh. They do not do what they want to do so they try harder. But they are only adding fuel to the fire. You cannot fight flesh with flesh.

The new New International Version

Perhaps in view of these issues, the good people at Zondervan recently announced an important change to the 2011 version of the NIV Bible. On page 8 of its Notes from the Committee on Bible Translation, they said, “Most occurrences of ‘sinful nature’ have become ‘flesh.’” In other words, the NIV translators have decided to use the same English word for sarx found in the King James Version and nearly every other English Bible. This is a good change and it’s already in effect. For example, if you look up Romans 13:14 on the latest version of the NIV hosted at Bible Gateway, you will find that it now says this:

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”

But old habits die hard. Take a look at the screenshot of this verse (right) and you will see an interesting footnote. In the note the translators qualify their change by saying:

“In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.”

So we’ve gone from having a sinful nature to living in a sinful state. Big improvement. My earlier point bears repeating: If the flesh is inherently sinful then Jesus was sinful, but it isn’t and He wasn’t. Read the verse above again and you will see that the problem is not the flesh, but thinking about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. See that? Most of our problems originate with our unrenewed thinking, not our corruptible flesh. Jesus had all the same desires of the flesh that you and I have, yet He never sinned. Now Christ is our life (Col 3:4). This means we have the same nature as Jesus. We also inhabit the same sort of flesh that Jesus had. Consequently, we can live the same victorious life as Jesus. How? Certainly not by trying harder in the flesh. No, we live the life we’re called to by renewing our minds and learning to walk after the spirit.

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- Want to be a transparent sinner? Then reveal what’s really inside

Many years ago I participated in a street outreach in Australia. With our loud and upbeat music we soon attracted a large crowd. This was good. Sinners were going to hear the gospel and get saved. Then the preacher got up to speak and it all went pear-shaped. “I have a lust problem.” Oh-oh. Instead of telling the people about Jesus, this man began to share about his private battles with sexual temptation. He said he had suddenly felt convicted about bringing his problem into the light. I was cringing on the inside. What a witness!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for being open and honest with our shortcomings but this was neither the time nor the place. The unsaved people who were there needed to hear about their Father in heaven who loves them so much that He sent Jesus to rescue them. I’m sure it was titillating to hear a preacher talk about his sin, but his words didn’t point anyone to the Savior.

Fast forward a few years to another youth outreach, this time in Hong Kong. In front of a large crowd of unsaved teens, the dynamic young man up the front decided that this was the perfect opportunity to confess his sin of “self-sex.” I had never even heard of that expression before but it didn’t sound like it was part of the good news.

What’s wrong with us?!

Somehow we’ve bought into the idea that “transparency” means hanging our dirty laundry in public places. But this is old covenant thinking. In the days of Moses you were supposed to confess your sins (Num 5:7) and sometimes this happened publicly (Ezra 10). But we live under a new and better covenant characterized by the complete and eternal forgiveness of sins. I’m not pretending my behavior is perfect and I’m all for being open and honest. If I sin I’ll talk to my Father about it and if I sin against you I’ll talk to you about it. In any relationship it’s always healthy to own up to our mistakes (Jas 5:16). But I’m not going to stand on a street corner and confess my sins to the whole world. That’s not being transparent; that’s just dumb. Why do we think we’re glorifying God by drawing attention to ourselves? We may call it humility but in truth it’s self-centered. We’re shouting, “Look at me everybody, I’ve got sin!” Well hip-hip-hooray.

Have you ever been in a small group worshiping God when someone interrupts and says, “I got a problem with pornography”? It’s like getting a bucket of cold water thrown over your head! Before you can react, someone else says, “God forgive me, I yell at my kids.” The next thing you know, the confession train’s pulling out of the station and everyone’s climbing on board. “I steal pens from the office stationery cabinet.” “I cheat on my taxes.” “Joey, I’m really sorry I said those terrible things about you.” It doesn’t take long before you’re completely distracted and wondering all sorts of things. What did they say about Joey that was so terrible?

Do you see the problem? We’re called to be Christ-conscious not self-conscious. We don’t honor Jesus by shaming ourselves. You’ve got problems? Guess what – we all have problems! But we’re not here to gather around your sins. We’re here to fix our eyes on Jesus.

We need to redefine what we mean by transparency. In the old covenant they confessed sins because that’s what they were carrying inside. But because of Jesus our sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west. Or think about it this way. Satan is in the business of accusing and shaming the saints (Rev 12:10), while Jesus is in the business of defending us to our Father (1 Jn 2:1). When you accuse and shame yourself, are you acting more like your old master Satan or your new master Jesus?

Transparency in the new covenant means something totally different from confessing sins. It means revealing Jesus who lives within. It means acknowledging every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus (Phm 1:6). It takes no faith to confess our imperfections. It takes faith to declare what God says is true about you in spite of your imperfections! In God’s eyes you’re righteous, holy and perfect. You are a walking, talking trophy of His amazing grace. You are a child of God, seated in heavenly places and the temple of the Holy Spirit.

If you want to be truly transparent, then reveal what’s really inside you. Sure, on the outside you’re just a jar of clay cracked and dusty, but look at the awesome Treasure inside! This is the Treasure that the world needs to see so let Him out. Don’t say, “I dare not – I’ve still got issues.” The Bible pronounces you a competent minister of the new covenant (2 Cor 3:6)! You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world and by the grace of God you are what you are!
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- Confession, conviction, confusion
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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!
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Related posts:

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.
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Related posts:
- Are you religious? Take the test
- Two religions: Works and blood
- Be earnest and repent (Rev 3:19)

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!
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Related posts:
- Who can take communion?
- What is the unforgiveable sin?
- Confession, conviction, confusion!

One of the greatest sources of anxiety among believers is confusion over issues of sin and forgiveness. Tell a confused Christian that there is an unforgiveable sin and it’s like throwing petrol on a fire. So is there an unforgiveable sin and, if so, what is it?

The bottom 10 list

Below is a list of candidate sins that I have gleaned from various commentaries. You may have committed one or all of them, but rest assured that none of them is unforgiveable:

1.    an attitude that calls evil good and good evil
2.    a lack of reverence
3.    being stubborn and unteachable
4.    not loving the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength
5.    willful or intentional sin
6.    unconfessed sin
7.    unrepented sin
8.    harboring unforgiveness in your heart
9.    taking the Lord’s Name in vain
10.    having disrespectful thoughts about the Holy Spirit

Now there is some bad stuff on this list that can really hurt you. For instance, if you harbor unforgiveness you’ll end up bitter and twisted. But it is not helpful to tell a young mother whose husband has just run off with her best friend that she must forgive him or face eternal damnation. You might as well ask her to walk on water! The power to overcome sin – and forgive the unforgiveable – is not found in religious fear-mongering. So, in the hope of breaking a few man-made yokes, let’s review some of these so-called unforgiveable sins.

Unforgiveable sins?

Some people will try and tell you that the unforgiveable sin is a bad attitude or a lack of reverence or it’s being stubborn and unteachable. This is nonsense! Jesus didn’t suffer and die to enter us into a reverence contest. We neither earn points for being quick learners nor get punished for being dimwitted. Attitude is certainly important as it will affect the way you live and whether you reign in life. But a poor attitude won’t disqualify a saint any more than a good attitude will qualify a sinner.

Others say the unforgiveable sin is not loving the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength – it’s putting Sunday football ahead of Jesus. This mindset naturally leads to a system of religious score-keeping. It’s the debits versus the credits. But God is not counting the number of hours we put into church versus the number of hours we spend kicking a football. You don’t qualify for eternal life because you maintain a positive or pious attitude. In fact, Jesus said this sort of religious thinking makes Him nauseous. We don’t love God to stay on His good side. We love Him because He first loved us and saved us and redeemed us and did everything we needed, while we were yet sinners (Rm 5:8).

What about willful sin? That sounds serious. Well if Jesus can’t forgive the sins we’ve done on purpose then no one can be saved. Don’t worry – His best is greater than your worst and His grace is greater than your sin!

I’ve heard plenty of people say that unpardonable sins are those we neither confess nor repent of. (This would include suicide.) They seem to forget that Jesus went around forgiving people who neither repented nor asked for forgiveness. They also forget that He forgave them long before they were born. If you preach, “you must repent to be forgiven,” then you’re preaching dead works. You’re trying to define righteousness in terms of what you do or don’t do. Wrong tree.

Am I saying you don’t need to repent? You must, but from dead works rather than sin (He 6:1). Jesus said, “repent and believe the good news” (Mk 1:15). When you change the way you think and start believing the good news – that His grace and love led Him to die for you before you had done any confessing or turning of your own – it will empower you to overcome sin. We don’t turn from sin to get forgiven; we turn because we are forgiven and His grace enables us.

What about harboring unforgiveness in our hearts? Didn’t Jesus say forgiving others was a precondition for receiving God’s forgiveness (Mt 6:15)? If it is then there’s no such thing as grace. Read your Bible through the lens of the cross. Jesus preached the law of conditional forgiveness to those who lived under the law to silence their self-righteousness and reveal their need for a Savior (Rm 3:19, Gal 3:24). We are not under law but grace (Rm 6:15). We forgive others because He first forgave us (Col 3:13).

What about taking the Lord’s Name in vain? This is one of the 10 Commandments and was a stoning offense under the old covenant:

“Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.” (Lev 24:16)

If you have taken the Lord’s Name in vain, then thank God that we live under a new and better covenant! Thank God for Jesus who has set us free from the curse of the law and and who said:

“Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven…” Mat 12:32a

You may have cursed God, but He has blessed you! I wish I could go back to 19th century Copenhagen, find the gloomy Dane and tell him the good news. “Søren, all your sins were forgiven!”

But what about the rest of that verse…

“…but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Mat 12:32b

Here Jesus identifies the one and only sin that He says will never be forgiven, namely, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

The unforgiveable sin

This week I heard about someone who was battling condemnation because they had had disrespectful thoughts about the Holy Spirit. They were worried that they had committed the unforgiveable sin. If this has happened to you, don’t panic! First of all, don’t take ownership for every thought that passes through your mind. As the saying goes, you can’t stop the birds flying overhead, but you can stop them building a nest in your hair. Second, and as we will see in the next post, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is something very specific. If you’ve had disrespectful thoughts, that probably means you don’t know the Holy Spirit very well. But you haven’t blasphemed Him. Not even close.

So who is a blasphemer? Religion paints a picture of a blasphemer as someone who is belligerent and foul-mouthed. But a blasphemer may look more like the Pharisees and law-teachers of Jesus’ day. A blasphemer is one whose beliefs prevent him from receiving the grace of God. This includes those who refuse to believe that all the sins of men have been forgiven. Rather than allow the Holy Spirit to convict them of their unbelief, they are preoccupied with maintaining their own religious performance. “How’s my walk? Am I confessing my sins? Am I praying enough, maintaining a positive attitude and behaving such that God will bless me?” These are works that lead to death. Those who do them need to repent.

What is the unforgiveable sin? It is the sin of unbelief in Jesus and His finished work. It is the sin of not receiving the free gift of His grace and righteousness. This sin cannot be forgiven because he who commits it chooses to reject the very thing that would otherwise save him. This rejection may take the form of hard heartedness (“I don’t need Him”) or religious idolatry (“He needs my help”). In either case the grace of God is rendered ineffective simply because it is not received.

If you love Jesus, there’s no need to get hung up over the unforgiveable sin. Although hell will be full of murderers, thieves and adulterers, people do not go to hell for committing murder, stealing or adultery. As terrible as they are, all these sins have been paid for by the precious blood of the Lamb (1 Jn 1:7, Eph 1:7). So have the sins listed at the top of this post. Your choice is this: You can be sin-conscious and gloomy, or you can be Christ-conscious and rejoice!

“Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned!
Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of!” (Rm 4:7-8)

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Related posts:
- Two religions: Works and blood
- Are you religious? (Take the test!)
- Chop off your hand?! Was Jesus serious?
- What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

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!”
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- 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.
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So if God is no longer in the punishment business, who killed Herod?

On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. (Acts 12:21-23)

If God is really done with sin, how do we explain this? Herod is a good test case for he is the only person in the New Testament who appears to have been struck or punished by God. Before the cross entire cities and nations were wiped out on account of sin. But after the cross, Herod is the only candidate. (If you’re wondering about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 or Elymas the sorcerer, see my note in the comments below.) So who killed Herod? I’m going to present the evidence for and against five suspects, then you can decide for yourself. This is a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but I am going to make a serious point at the end.

1.    God killed Herod

To prove a crime you need to demonstrate means, motive, and opportunity. God certainly had the means and opportunity to strike Herod but He had no motive. “What about Herod’s sin of pride?” I hear you say with indignation. “He had it coming and deserved to get whacked!” Maybe he did, but God does not treat us as our sins deserve (Ps 103:10). The truth is we all had it coming, yet God gave His Son as the ultimate sin offering for the whole world. Through Christ He has reconciled the world to Himself and is no longer counting our sins against us (2 Cor 5:19). If God was counting Herod’s sin, it would be bad news indeed for it would mean that the cross was not the perfect remedy for sin that the Bible says it is (Heb 10:12).

“What about God’s righteous demands for justice?” These were fully satisfied on the cross. God is no longer obliged to punish sin because He already has (Is 53:5). “But Herod never repented.” God’s grace does not depend on man’s performance. He still wouldn’t punish him. Remember, the Son of Man came to see and save the lost (Lk 19:10). He came to die for unbelievers like Herod. If Herod went to his grave unrepentant, then, yes, there will be eternal consequences. But men are appointed to face judgment after they die, not before (Heb 9:27). In this post we are talking about Herod’s first death, not his second (Rev 21:8).

God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). He had no more reason to strike Herod than He has to strike you. The fact that you’re still breathing despite all you’ve done is testimony to the grace of a good God. You are just one of six billion living witnesses of God’s mercy and grace. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, including Herod. He doesn’t deserve grace any more than you do, but here we are.

Not only is there no motive, but God’s defense (as if He needed one) is supported by an outstanding character witness: Jesus. To interpret the heart of the Father we only need to look at the Son (Jn 14:9). Jesus met plenty of people who were proud like Herod. Some were so full of themselves that they warranted sober warnings: “Woe to you – how will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Mt 23). Yet every sinner that Jesus confronted walked away with the opportunity to repent. Jesus smote none of them and He died for all of them. Was God judging Herod? Jesus says no (Jn 5:22). Although many are quick to blame God for killing Herod, the facts are He had no motive and Jesus said He didn’t do it. Case dismissed.

2.    An angel killed Herod

Luke wrote that an “angel of the Lord” killed Herod. In the Hebrew Old Testament, the phrase “angel of the Lord” sometimes referred to the Lord Himself (Ex 3:2, Jdg 6:22). But there are plenty of places in the New Testament where it simply meant an angel from the Lord (Mt 28:2, Lk 2:9). So one possibility raised by my friend Simon Wilson, is that an angel struck Herod. This is not to say that it was the Lord’s will for Herod to be struck. But if saints can act independently of God’s will, why can’t angels? Angels aren’t robots.

Have you ever heard of a Christian acting rashly and doing something dumb for Jesus? How about Peter? In a moment of passion Peter tried to remove the head of the high priest’s servant (Jn 18:10). If Peter can swing a sword in a misguided attempt to defend the Lord’s name, why not an angel? I admit it’s hard to imagine, but as far as I can tell there’s nothing in scripture to rule out this possibility.

3.    A believer killed Herod

To be correct, Luke wrote that an aggelos or angelos of the Lord struck Herod. A full definition of that word raises the possibility that it could’ve been an angel, a messenger, a pastor or an ordinary Christian. For instance, Luke uses the same word angelos when describing John the Baptist (Lk 7:27), John’s disciples (Lk 7:24), and Jesus’ disciples (Lk 9:52). An angelos is simply a messenger. So now we’re looking for a messenger with a motive. Hmm. Maybe it was Peter – he certainly had motive. Afterall, Herod had tried to kill him so maybe it was self-defense (Acts 12:3). Or maybe Peter got riled when Herod started strutting like a god and he went berserk with a sword again. (This one was rusty, hence the infection that followed.) This led to a huge scandal and so as not to embarrass Peter further, Luke disguised his identity when re-telling the story.

No, I don’t really think Peter did it.

4.    The devil killed Herod

I mention the devil simply because Jesus said he’s always a suspect whenever death and destruction are involved (Jn 10:10). Of course if it was the devil, then Luke, the author of Acts, missed the mark by saying it was an angel of the Lord. If Luke was ascribing to God something done by the devil, then he would be making a very Old Testamenty mistake (see Job). In olden times people used to attribute anything supernatural – good or bad – to God. If Satan did something bad, it was because God had allowed it to happen and therefore God was ultimately responsible. If Luke was thinking like this then he was making a huge mistake. But he wouldn’t be alone. To this day there are believers who claim that because God is sovereign everything that happens is His will. Jesus would strongly disagree.

A second way that Luke could’ve misread Herod’s death is by not fully understanding the significance of the cross. He may have been a little confused about what made the new covenant new. Perhaps he thought that God was still smiting people. If so, he wouldn’t be the only New Testament believer who was confused about the covenants. (Ananias, Paul’s healer, still thought you could wash your sins away with water (Acts 22:16)!)

5.    Sin killed Herod

I don’t blame the devil for everything that goes wrong in this world. The fact is that sin is probably a far greater killer (Gen 2:17, Rm 6:33). Sin has a single purpose and that is to open the door to death (Rm 5:12). Sin can kill you quick or it can kill you slow but we are naïve if we think of sin as a purposeless thing. Paul warned that if we let sin reign in our “mortal bodies” we will become its slaves and it will lead to death (Rms 6:12-16).

Those of us who have received the gift of righteousness having nothing to fear from either sin or death (1 Co 15:55), but Herod had no such assurance. As a slave to sin he was fair game (Rm 6:16). You might say that sin was crouching at his door desiring him as it did Cain (Gen 4:7). According to Josephus, Herod knew that he was dying on account of the praises of his flatterers. I don’t put a lot of stock in what Josephus says, but his account does accord with Paul’s warnings about sin. Maybe it was Herod’s sin that killed him.

So who killed Herod?

We don’t exactly know and it doesn’t really matter. I didn’t write this to blame Peter, some Rambo-angel or even the devil. I wrote it so people would stop blaming God. My punch-line is this: If God punished Herod by killing him, then Christ’s atoning work on the cross was not perfect and you’re in serious trouble.

But the good news is that He didn’t, it was, and you’re not!
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- Seven signs that you might be living under law
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