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Christianity is the lifestyle of a person who is knowingly alive because
of a God who is GOOD and who sent his son (also God and also GOOD) to
die in our place since we were all dead as a result of sin. We really
were! For instance...
Do you consider yourself to be a good person? Have you ever told a lie?
Then, nevertheless, you are a liar. Have you ever stolen
anything? Then you are a thief. Have you ever hated someone? That is the
spirit of murder. Have you ever looked on someone not your spouse with
lust? Then you have committed adultery in your heart. Have you ever
coveted anything that belonged or was covenanted to another person?
Then that also is a sin!
If you agree with any of those then your conscience bears witness that
you are a sinner and have fallen short of the glory of God; and the
penalty for sin is death.
If you commit a crime against your neighbour, but after that
you live a virtuous life full of good deeds, when you die you will
be just as guilty of that earlier crime in the sight of God
as when it was first committed. Your subsequent good deeds won’t erase
the record of your sin or remove it's consequences.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
You know this in your heart! And because of this when God who is a
righteous judge considers you, your final destination after judgement
would be "Hell".
Well in order to rescue you from that end, Jesus died for you! He took
your place!
But, Jesus did not just die a perfect man. If that was all that He did
then you would not be saved. He was and is perfect yes, but significantly
He took all our sins onto Himself on the cross. ALL our sins were put
on Jesus our Messiah (Annointed Saviour).
Even that would not have been enough to save us. He was tortured to
restore all the peace (SHALOM) we lost and beaten with stripes for all
the health of which we were deprived and also took our punishment
in hell for ALL the sins we committed,.
Jesus shed His blood to remove the curse brought into the world by
Adam and the seven places on His body from which blood was shed, to
some people, show the areas of cursing that has been lifted for the
believer.
Jesus also was taken into Hades (Hell) and stayed there three days and
three nights (representing eternity in the Spirit realm), taking your
punishment for sin for ALL time.
This is the basis for our hope in this world and the next. It's
because Jesus took our punishment, that we legally are cleansed
of sin. Since the legal (righteous) requirements of the law have been
met our sins have been expunged from the record. There is NOW no record
of ANY of our sins in heaven. Once we accept Jesus' sacrifice on our
behalf we have ALL our sins forgiven for Eternity. This is pointed
out in the letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 10, verse 14.
Heb 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who
are being sanctified.
And also in Hebrews, Chapter 9, verses 11-12.
Heb 9:11-12 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things
that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent
(not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once
for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and
calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an
eternal redemption (for us).
It's not just that some of our sins are forgiven, they have ALL been
forgiven. That is why we will not have any sins imputed to us as it
says in Romans, Chapter 4, verses 5-8.
Rom 4:5-8 But to him who does not work but believes on Him that
justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
just as David also speaks of the blessing of the man to whom God
accounts righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are they whose
lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins were covered over;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall by no means impute sin."
Because we are cleansed of ALL sins and no other sin will be
imputed to us, we should have no consciousness of sin. Paul (I
personally think Paul is the most likely writer of Hebrews) makes
that clear in Heb 10:1-2.
Heb 10:1-2 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things
to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never,
by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year,
make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have
ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been
cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
Since Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, worshipers under
the New Covenant have been cleansed and should have no more
consciousness of sins.
While all of this is true, some will say, "If we tell people that
they are free from the penalty of sin because Jesus has paid it,
then they will go out and sin"!
Well, first of all, not knowing this does not stop people from
sinning. The world is testiment to that! And secondly, this is not
what Jesus says. Jesus tells us that he/she who has been forgiven
much, loves much. Those who have been forgiven little, love little.
Luk 7:40-43 And answering, Jesus said to him, Simon, I have
something to say to you. And he said, Teacher, speak. There was
a certain creditor who had two debtors. The one owed five hundred
denarii, and the other fifty. And they having nothing to pay, he
freely forgave both. Then which of them do you say will love him
most? And answering, Simon said, I suppose that one to whom he
forgave most. And He said to him, You have judged rightly.
The people of God who have been forgiven, have truly understood how
much they have been forgiven and with what sacrifice they were
forgiven, as they claimed Jesus' sacrifice for themselves. They
therefore love God much and follow Jesus.
Those who rely on keeping law to stay on the straight and narrow
have no peace because the things that they will to do, they don't do
and the things they don't want to do, those they do. They are always
sin conscious; always guilty; and always trying to put the same
guilt trip on those in Christ.
Rom 7:14-15 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal,
sold under sin. For that which I do, I know not. For what I desire,
that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do.
If you try to live a perfect life in your own strength the above is the
result!
But we rest in Jesus and His finished work and "Thank God through
Christ Jesus" who does all things pertaining to righteousness through
us. It's not we who do it but Jesus who does it through us.
Gal 2:20-21 I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; yet no
longer I, but Christ lives in me. And that life I now live in the
flesh, I live by faith toward the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself on my behalf. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if
righteousness is through law, then Christ died without cause.
As a result of resting in Jesus, and relying on Him, sin does not
have dominion over us. This God tells us through Paul in Romans,
Chapter 6, verse 14.
Rom 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not
under law but under grace.
We have been freely forgiven by God through Jesus. It's free for us
to accept but it was not free to provide.
Some people think the individual places from which Jesus' blood was
shed have significance in terms of releasing mankind from curses that
came on them because of sin.
The blood that Jesus sweated on the Mount of Olives is taken by some
as recinding the curse of Gen 3:19 that "By the
sweat of your face you shall eat bread".
You can think that every part of Jesus' suffering and death had it's
individual meaning in God's plan of redemption, or that in-toto,
because of all the sufferings that Jesus took on our behalf and
the torture and punishment of the cross and the grave, we have freedom
in Christ and everlasting life in communion with the God of love, the
Son of grace and in fellowship with Holy Spirit.
Either way, now because of His victory over Satan we have freedom
and hope. And, by His Spirit in us through grace and by faith in Him
and His sacrifice on the cross we can live lives pleasing to Him
while we wait, in His peace, for His return.
With that full and proper understanding of what you owe Jesus
(what he suffered for you) you can give your heart to Him and
commit to follow Him. Then you will receive the Holy Spirit to
enpower you to live a life worthy of a child of God.
Jesus will then live His life through you as you trust Him; as you
see from the word of God what the Christian life holds for you now
and into the future; and as you yield to the promptings of Holy
Spirit so that you learn to live righteously and grow to become
like Him.
We are truly blessed because of the love of the God that we worship!
Attlee.
Basic Christianity 102. Click Here.
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