Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Canning Peaches!
Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
The gospel has 2 parts to it: 1) forgiveness of sins and 2) restoration of Life to dead men. Forgiveness of sins is provided by the death of Jesus on the cross, whereas His Life is given by His resurrection. When were we reconciled to God, according to Rom 5:10? – When we were His enemies? Why were we reconciled? – So that we could experience His life. Without understanding and experiencing complete forgiveness (not momentary forgiveness) provided by the cross, one can NEVER experience the reality of His Life.
To understand why Christ had to deal with the sin issue (forgiveness) once and for all, the process of canning is an excellent illustration. Imagine that you are going to preserve some peaches. The first thing that needs to be done is to sterilize the jars. Why the sterilization of the jars? – So that the peaches will be preserved from spoiling. So when the sterilization of the jars is done, do we stop with the process? No, the reason we sterilize the jars is so that we can fill them with something.
God’s sterilization process is the cross whereby we are forgiven. His filling process is Christ coming to live in us through His resurrection. Unfortunately, many of us have only heard one half of the gospel – which is the sterilization process or forgiveness of sins. Worse yet, many are not even convinced that the jars are clean once and for all by His sterilization process. They think that His sterilization has an expiration date, which is when they mess up.
But by focusing only on the sterilization process or forgiveness of sins, not only have we missed out on experiencing the Life, but we have missed the purpose of forgiveness in the first place. The reason that God had to deal with the sin issue once and for all was so that we could be filled with Christ “without spoiling.”
Actually, that’s not the end of the canning process. After sterilizing the jars and filling them with the peaches, the jars are sealed. Sealing keeps the good things inside and the bad things that would spoil the contents outside. Eph 1:13 says that, “after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise”.
Cleansing, filling, and sealing: a wonderful picture of salvation! Once we see that the goal of salvation is the raising of dead men to life; it is easy to see why Christ had to deal with the sin issue once and for all.
(Adapted from Bob George’s “Classic Christianity – Life’s Too Short to Miss the Real Thing”)
The gospel has 2 parts to it: 1) forgiveness of sins and 2) restoration of Life to dead men. Forgiveness of sins is provided by the death of Jesus on the cross, whereas His Life is given by His resurrection. When were we reconciled to God, according to Rom 5:10? – When we were His enemies? Why were we reconciled? – So that we could experience His life. Without understanding and experiencing complete forgiveness (not momentary forgiveness) provided by the cross, one can NEVER experience the reality of His Life.
To understand why Christ had to deal with the sin issue (forgiveness) once and for all, the process of canning is an excellent illustration. Imagine that you are going to preserve some peaches. The first thing that needs to be done is to sterilize the jars. Why the sterilization of the jars? – So that the peaches will be preserved from spoiling. So when the sterilization of the jars is done, do we stop with the process? No, the reason we sterilize the jars is so that we can fill them with something.
God’s sterilization process is the cross whereby we are forgiven. His filling process is Christ coming to live in us through His resurrection. Unfortunately, many of us have only heard one half of the gospel – which is the sterilization process or forgiveness of sins. Worse yet, many are not even convinced that the jars are clean once and for all by His sterilization process. They think that His sterilization has an expiration date, which is when they mess up.
But by focusing only on the sterilization process or forgiveness of sins, not only have we missed out on experiencing the Life, but we have missed the purpose of forgiveness in the first place. The reason that God had to deal with the sin issue once and for all was so that we could be filled with Christ “without spoiling.”
Actually, that’s not the end of the canning process. After sterilizing the jars and filling them with the peaches, the jars are sealed. Sealing keeps the good things inside and the bad things that would spoil the contents outside. Eph 1:13 says that, “after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise”.
Cleansing, filling, and sealing: a wonderful picture of salvation! Once we see that the goal of salvation is the raising of dead men to life; it is easy to see why Christ had to deal with the sin issue once and for all.
(Adapted from Bob George’s “Classic Christianity – Life’s Too Short to Miss the Real Thing”)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Forgiveness Q & A
Col 2: 13,14 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
I want you to answer some questions about forgiveness of sins. If you put away your religious or denominational cap for a few minutes and think honestly, the answers you arrive at may shock you and may be the most wonderful discovery you've ever made.
1. Did Jesus die for your sins?
2. Did Jesus experience the righteous wrath and fury of God against sin? If so whose sin was it – Jesus or your sin?
3. If Jesus bore your punishment and died on your behalf, what does that make you - GUILTY or FREE & FORGIVEN (cleared of all charges against you)?
4. If you were (FORGIVEN) cleared of all charges, would it be fair for you to be judged and punished again?
5. Did Jesus die for ALL your sins?
6. If so how many of your sins were forgiven?
7. When Jesus died more than 2000 years ago, how many sins had you committed?
8. Does that mean when Jesus died, ALL your sins were future sins (not yet committed)?
9. If, when Jesus died, all your sins were future sins, can you say today (March 15, 2010) that Jesus died for and forgave ALL your sins (past, present and EVEN the future ones)?
10. Can we say that God stands in eternity outside “time” and can see the end from the beginning and he paid for and forgave ALL your sins even when they were future sins?
11. Was His cruel death on the cross and your forgiveness dependent on your choice to participate in it?
Heb 9:26 says that Jesus appeared to put away or “obliterate” sin by His own sacrifice. Did He do a good job at obliterating your sin? God has blotted or erased your sins from his memory (Heb 8:12; 10:17; Isaiah 43:25) by the sacrifice of Jesus. Why remind Him what He has chosen to forget? Jesus said, “IT IS FINISHED”. The issue of sin has been taken care once and for all by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. He removed your sin and declared you innocent. Do you believe this too good to be true good news (gospel)?
I want you to answer some questions about forgiveness of sins. If you put away your religious or denominational cap for a few minutes and think honestly, the answers you arrive at may shock you and may be the most wonderful discovery you've ever made.
1. Did Jesus die for your sins?
2. Did Jesus experience the righteous wrath and fury of God against sin? If so whose sin was it – Jesus or your sin?
3. If Jesus bore your punishment and died on your behalf, what does that make you - GUILTY or FREE & FORGIVEN (cleared of all charges against you)?
4. If you were (FORGIVEN) cleared of all charges, would it be fair for you to be judged and punished again?
5. Did Jesus die for ALL your sins?
6. If so how many of your sins were forgiven?
7. When Jesus died more than 2000 years ago, how many sins had you committed?
8. Does that mean when Jesus died, ALL your sins were future sins (not yet committed)?
9. If, when Jesus died, all your sins were future sins, can you say today (March 15, 2010) that Jesus died for and forgave ALL your sins (past, present and EVEN the future ones)?
10. Can we say that God stands in eternity outside “time” and can see the end from the beginning and he paid for and forgave ALL your sins even when they were future sins?
11. Was His cruel death on the cross and your forgiveness dependent on your choice to participate in it?
Heb 9:26 says that Jesus appeared to put away or “obliterate” sin by His own sacrifice. Did He do a good job at obliterating your sin? God has blotted or erased your sins from his memory (Heb 8:12; 10:17; Isaiah 43:25) by the sacrifice of Jesus. Why remind Him what He has chosen to forget? Jesus said, “IT IS FINISHED”. The issue of sin has been taken care once and for all by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. He removed your sin and declared you innocent. Do you believe this too good to be true good news (gospel)?
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Ultimate Sacrifice Sermon Jam
Future Sins Are Already Forgiven - Steve McVey
from Gracewalk.org
“It can’t be true that my future sins are already forgiven!” This was the protest I heard one day after somebody heard me teach that all of our sins are forgiven. I read her the passage from Colossians 2:13-14. Then I asked her these questions, which I encourage you to answer as you read them.
1. How many of your sins did God know about before you were born? (All of them.)
2. How many of them did He record on your certificate of debt mentioned in the passage in Colossians referenced above? (All of them.)
3. How many of your sins did Jesus pay for on the cross? (All of them.)
4. How many of them were future at that time? (All of them.)
5. How many sins was He referring to when He said, “If is finished”? (All of them.)
6. At the time you were saved, how many of your sins did God forgive?
If you didn’t answer number six by saying, “All of them,” I encourage you to ask yourself if you’re being intellectually honest. Would it make sense that God would see and note all of our sins; that Jesus Christ would bear all of them upon Himself; that He would declare from the cross that payment had been made for all of them and then, after all that, God would only forgive you for some of your sins — namely the ones you had committed up to the point in time at which you were saved? Don’t make the mistake of trying to put God in the “time box.” He won’t fit. He has forgiven you for every sin you will ever commit, past, present and future. The verse clearly says that He has “forgiven us all our transgressions,” not just our past ones.
For many years I believed that in order to stay in a state of forgiveness before God, it was necessary that I ask Him to forgive me for each sin which I committed. This kind of faulty theology raises some serious questions. What happens if I don’t ask Him to forgive me for a specific sin? Does it remain unforgiven until the day I die? What happens then, when I go into eternity with an unforgiven sin? Nobody can go into heaven with unforgiven sin (Imagine being eternally separated from God for calling somebody an idiot in another car on the interstate and forgetting to ask God for forgiveness.).
On the other side of the issue, consider this question: Is there anything that you know is the right thing to do that you aren’t doing? James said, “Therefore, to the one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, it is sin” (James 4:17). Do you see the dilemma? If all our sins aren’t forgiven, then we had better make sure we are living a perfect life because not only do we have to deal with sins which occur when we do wrong things, but we also have to be worried about the right things we haven’t done. This would be enough to give the Christian a nervous breakdown!
"Then, are you saying that since His grace has covered our sin, we can go out and do anything we want?" I hope somebody is asking that because, if so, it shows I've made grace clear here. You're not the first one to ask that question. Read Romans 6:1-4 to see how Paul answered the question when it was asked of him.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The "Giant Flat Panel TV" in Heaven - Joseph Prince
The following article is from the Daily Devotional by Joseph Prince. You can subscribe to these devotionals from www.josephprince.org.
When I was a young Christian growing up in Singapore, I read a little tract entitled This Was Your Life. In that tract, it said that when you get to heaven, God will replay your entire life, including all your sins, on a huge video screen for all the angels and other saints to watch!
The idea that God was making such a video of my life with the intention of screening it for everyone to watch used to make me feel awful and condemned before God. How could I ever stand boldly in His presence? And how was I going to face my loved ones and Christian friends in heaven?
I was a nervous wreck, thinking about all my sins that God was recording down, until I read this in the Bible: “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.” (Romans 4:8) Hallelujah! I jumped for joy when I found out that God was not counting my sins against me, and that He has given me something called “non-imputation of sins”!
My friend, the reason that God does not impute any of our sins to us is that He has already imputed all of them to the body of His Son Jesus when He hung on the cross 2,000 years ago. Not only that, when God punished His Son for our sins, He caused the curse of the law to fall stroke by stroke upon Jesus’ entire body until every curse had been fully satisfied. That is why we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. (Galatians 3:13) That is why, instead of imputing sin to us, God imputes righteousness!
God wants us to know that our sins and lawless deeds He will remember no more. The words “no more” in the original Greek text carry a strong double-negative meaning. In other words, God is saying, “No way, by no means, will I ever remember your sins again!”
Beloved, since God says that He will remember your sins no more, why do you still remember them? Or for that matter, your spouse’s or neighbor’s sins? God does not want you to be conscious of sins because He is not. So rejoice! Come to Him boldly and expect Him to show you mercy and grace because He remembers your sins no more!
When I was a young Christian growing up in Singapore, I read a little tract entitled This Was Your Life. In that tract, it said that when you get to heaven, God will replay your entire life, including all your sins, on a huge video screen for all the angels and other saints to watch!
The idea that God was making such a video of my life with the intention of screening it for everyone to watch used to make me feel awful and condemned before God. How could I ever stand boldly in His presence? And how was I going to face my loved ones and Christian friends in heaven?
I was a nervous wreck, thinking about all my sins that God was recording down, until I read this in the Bible: “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.” (Romans 4:8) Hallelujah! I jumped for joy when I found out that God was not counting my sins against me, and that He has given me something called “non-imputation of sins”!
My friend, the reason that God does not impute any of our sins to us is that He has already imputed all of them to the body of His Son Jesus when He hung on the cross 2,000 years ago. Not only that, when God punished His Son for our sins, He caused the curse of the law to fall stroke by stroke upon Jesus’ entire body until every curse had been fully satisfied. That is why we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. (Galatians 3:13) That is why, instead of imputing sin to us, God imputes righteousness!
God wants us to know that our sins and lawless deeds He will remember no more. The words “no more” in the original Greek text carry a strong double-negative meaning. In other words, God is saying, “No way, by no means, will I ever remember your sins again!”
Beloved, since God says that He will remember your sins no more, why do you still remember them? Or for that matter, your spouse’s or neighbor’s sins? God does not want you to be conscious of sins because He is not. So rejoice! Come to Him boldly and expect Him to show you mercy and grace because He remembers your sins no more!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Your Sins are Forgiven!! (A Fresh look at the cross)
Luke 7:48 ……Your sins are forgiven
What is the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ? The good news is that “YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN”!!
This statement has become a cliché in the church. To understand this statement, it is necessary to take a fresh look at the cross. What happened at the cross?
Sin separated man from God by the disobedience of one man, Adam. Heb 10:1-4, 11 says that the old covenant, which was a type and shadow of the real thing, had a sacrificial system for the atonement of sins. Because, the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins, it could not make anyone perfect. If perfection could be achieved by that system, then there would be no need to offer the same sacrifice again and again. So people were constantly conscious of their sins. They could never have a perfect or sinless conscience (Heb 9:9; 10:2). The priest had to offer sacrifices for himself and the congregation continually.
Now contrast that with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, which is the real thing. He was offered ONCE for the sins of many (Heb 9:28). He entered the most holy place with His own blood. How does the ONE sacrifice of Jesus and His blood compare with that of the sacrifices of the old covenant? (Please pause and think about each of the following points)
1. His ONE sacrifice has PUT AWAY SIN FOREVER (Heb 9:26; 10:12)
2. His blood has provided remission or forgiveness of sins (Heb 9:22)
3. His blood has cleansed our conscience (Heb 9:14; 10:22)
4. We HAVE BEEN sanctified ONCE FOR ALL(Heb 10:10)
5. We HAVE BEEN perfected FOREVER (Heb 10:14; 12:23)
6. Because sins have been remitted, there is no need for another sacrifice (Heb 10:18).
7. Because sins have been taken away by His one sacrifice, He is now SEATED and not standing anymore to offer more sacrifices (Heb 10:11-12).
8. He has obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION (Heb 9:12)
We have received eternal, not momentary, redemption (Heb. 9:12). One sacrifice was made for all sin forever, and we have been perfected forever. Isn’t that awesome news?
So does that mean Christ forgave all our sins (past, present, future sins)? You better believe that Christ has forgiven all your future sins too, because he died for our sins once; 2000 years ago; before we were born or committed any sin. All our sins were future sins when he died. God is not bound by time as we are. When we believe in Jesus and His finished work, we receive the forgiveness for all our sins that He has already provided 2000 years ago. He did this purely by His grace, not because of any of our good deeds or confessions or sin consciousness or introspections. Rather, based on Heb 10:2, we should have no more sin consciousness, because of his perfect sacrifice, which has done a perfect work in the area of sin. We have eternal redemption, which is eternal forgiveness of our sins (Eph 1:7 and Col 1:14). 2 Cor 5:21 says that, He was made sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Beloved, righteousness is a free gift that He has given us - not by our own works (Rom 5:17, 18). Forgiveness of sins and the free gift of righteousness (apart from law/works) is the gospel that Paul preached, that was given to him by direct revelation by Jesus Himself (Acts 13:38; Gal 1:12).
He has taken away not only our sins, but the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2; John 1:29). This is the good news that needs to be shouted from the roof tops. The sin barrier has been removed once for all. God has reconciled the whole world to himself through Christ and is not imputing anyone’s trespasses anymore (2 Cor 5:19). Christ took the punishment for sins of the entire humanity.
Beloved, are you willing to see yourself as God sees you today, forgiven, holy, righteous, sanctified, and perfected because of the PERFECT sacrifice of Jesus? Quit trying to add anything more to his finished work by your religious works. It is an insult to His finished work. He doesn’t even remember your sins anymore (Heb 10:17; Ps 103:12). Jesus said, “It is FINISHED”. Do you believe?
YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN!
What is the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ? The good news is that “YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN”!!
This statement has become a cliché in the church. To understand this statement, it is necessary to take a fresh look at the cross. What happened at the cross?
Sin separated man from God by the disobedience of one man, Adam. Heb 10:1-4, 11 says that the old covenant, which was a type and shadow of the real thing, had a sacrificial system for the atonement of sins. Because, the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins, it could not make anyone perfect. If perfection could be achieved by that system, then there would be no need to offer the same sacrifice again and again. So people were constantly conscious of their sins. They could never have a perfect or sinless conscience (Heb 9:9; 10:2). The priest had to offer sacrifices for himself and the congregation continually.
Now contrast that with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, which is the real thing. He was offered ONCE for the sins of many (Heb 9:28). He entered the most holy place with His own blood. How does the ONE sacrifice of Jesus and His blood compare with that of the sacrifices of the old covenant? (Please pause and think about each of the following points)
1. His ONE sacrifice has PUT AWAY SIN FOREVER (Heb 9:26; 10:12)
2. His blood has provided remission or forgiveness of sins (Heb 9:22)
3. His blood has cleansed our conscience (Heb 9:14; 10:22)
4. We HAVE BEEN sanctified ONCE FOR ALL(Heb 10:10)
5. We HAVE BEEN perfected FOREVER (Heb 10:14; 12:23)
6. Because sins have been remitted, there is no need for another sacrifice (Heb 10:18).
7. Because sins have been taken away by His one sacrifice, He is now SEATED and not standing anymore to offer more sacrifices (Heb 10:11-12).
8. He has obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION (Heb 9:12)
We have received eternal, not momentary, redemption (Heb. 9:12). One sacrifice was made for all sin forever, and we have been perfected forever. Isn’t that awesome news?
So does that mean Christ forgave all our sins (past, present, future sins)? You better believe that Christ has forgiven all your future sins too, because he died for our sins once; 2000 years ago; before we were born or committed any sin. All our sins were future sins when he died. God is not bound by time as we are. When we believe in Jesus and His finished work, we receive the forgiveness for all our sins that He has already provided 2000 years ago. He did this purely by His grace, not because of any of our good deeds or confessions or sin consciousness or introspections. Rather, based on Heb 10:2, we should have no more sin consciousness, because of his perfect sacrifice, which has done a perfect work in the area of sin. We have eternal redemption, which is eternal forgiveness of our sins (Eph 1:7 and Col 1:14). 2 Cor 5:21 says that, He was made sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Beloved, righteousness is a free gift that He has given us - not by our own works (Rom 5:17, 18). Forgiveness of sins and the free gift of righteousness (apart from law/works) is the gospel that Paul preached, that was given to him by direct revelation by Jesus Himself (Acts 13:38; Gal 1:12).
He has taken away not only our sins, but the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2; John 1:29). This is the good news that needs to be shouted from the roof tops. The sin barrier has been removed once for all. God has reconciled the whole world to himself through Christ and is not imputing anyone’s trespasses anymore (2 Cor 5:19). Christ took the punishment for sins of the entire humanity.
Beloved, are you willing to see yourself as God sees you today, forgiven, holy, righteous, sanctified, and perfected because of the PERFECT sacrifice of Jesus? Quit trying to add anything more to his finished work by your religious works. It is an insult to His finished work. He doesn’t even remember your sins anymore (Heb 10:17; Ps 103:12). Jesus said, “It is FINISHED”. Do you believe?
YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN!
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