The last few words of Romans 14 clearly define sin as "everything that does not come from faith." Well. If that's sin, then I probably do it upwards of 100 times a day. I go my own way, choose my path, distrust and wonder if God really knows what He's doing.
Still, my sin list continues:
Curse words, those can slip right out of my mouth without me even batting an eyelash. I feel envy somewhat often. I say "Oh, my God" to convey shock, surprise. I gossip. I assume. I think angry thoughts when I'm angry, sad thoughts when I'm sad. And, once in a while, I allow food to be the god of my life again, forgetting all that is true and noble and right. I could go on.
I sin. We all do. As long as we walk this earth and live in these bodies, we will be sinning. But "sinner" is not my identity. I'm completely redeemed, set free by Christ's death and resurrection. In one sweeping moment, He forgave me for my sins, once and for all.
Once and for all.
I've heard so many sermons and services about how we need to repent, to confess, to beg for mercy, to ask for forgiveness. This hurts my heart and makes it heavy. What a sad, sorrowful way to live, constantly wondering if we are pure enough or clean enough. This isn't what Christ wants for us. When He died for us on the cross, it was final. Consider Hebrews 9:23-29: "Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him."
Then, Paul continues through Hebrews 10:11-14: "Because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are 'the holy ones.'"
This is truth. It is fact.
Hebrews 10:17-18: "Then He adds, 'Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.' And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin."
Christ did away with the sin issue by becoming sin for us. He died for all of it - past, present and future. Though we still sin, we don't live under a constant limbo of "am I good enough for Him yet?" Freedom isn't found in that mindset; freedom is found when we understand that we are no longer defined by our sinful behavior, no longer bound by any set of laws.
Freedom is Christ.
Under the law, people confess their sins. But under grace, Jesus died for our sins. Our response should be an attitude of thanksgiving, grateful for His all-encompassing mercy.
My very next sin might be in a few minutes, or maybe it'll happen in an hour or so. I do know, though, that I won't be asking for forgiveness or confessing a long list of shortfalls as I fall asleep tonight. I will be thanking Jesus for His sweet, sweet sacrifice. For dying on that cross. For forgiving us completely and making us holy, once and for all.
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."
Romans 8:1-2
"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 Corinthians 5:18-19
"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, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us, and that stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross."
Colossians 2:13-14
7 comments:
this is so bold but so truthful and i totally agree with it. something people would say to argue against this post is that if you don't confess your sin then you're going to be an awful person and not care if you sin or not. that's why churches, like the catholic church, teach its people they need to confess, so the people don't go crazy and become apathetic about sin.
the beauty of "once for all" is that it's a gift to us. when we confess our sin daily and are worrying about whether we've sinned or not that day and haven't repented, i think we're taking away the freedom we've been given through christ's gift. this is AWESOME. thanks for sharing.
AGREE. yes. GREAT post.
Hey Mel! Love this post. I would argue that although God has redeemed us of all sin and forgiven us already, we are still called to confess our sins and ask forgiveness. This is how we acknowledge our sinful nature and are asking for repentance. (even though he will always give it)Confessing is part of the sanctification process and aids Christians in dealing with sin and healing from it.
Here are some Bible verses that may help illustrate my point:
"Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah" -Psalm 32:1-5
"Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy." -Proverbs 28:13
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." -James 5:16
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." -1 John 1:9
We are always called to rejoice in thanksgiving for all that Christ has done for us!
However, it is important for us to acknowledge our inequities and ask for that forgiveness that he promises that His death on the cross wiped away for us. I just wanted to make that clarification.
I love your heart and your passion and it's so exciting to see you growing on FIRE for the Lord!!!
Heather, thanks for commenting and sharing your thoughts :)
To go further, I want to point out that the verses from Psalms and Proverbs are a part of the Old Covenant way of thinking - In the New Covenant (beginning when Christ died), we find grace, we find that Christ died in our place to take God's punishment for sin. Therefore: God remembers our sins no more (Heb. 10:15-18). This New Covenant offers us everything we need.
On the verse from James: This refers to fellowship, to being transparent and sharing with other believers. I wholeheartedly believe that being honest with people and telling each other the areas we're struggling in is SO important to overcoming shame. But this verse isn't saying confess to Jesus. It tells us to confess to each other.
And lastly, on 1 John 1:9 - This is actually the only verse in the New Cov (after Jesus died) that point blank says to confess sins to God. A little context of 1 John: John wrote this letter to a heretical group - the Gnostics - who were teaching people that they were without sin. Basically, they weren't spreading the true Gospel message. And John was ticked about this. He wrote this letter to unbelievers, because this is essentially what the Gnostics were. This verse in particular deals with the truth of initial salvation --- When we are still dead in sin, we are called to confess and repent one time in order to receive complete salvation. This is how we became Christians. The Gnostics needed that fact, because they were off doing their own crazy thing and not internalizing the truth of Jesus.
So, 1 John wasn't written to Christians, which means 1 John 1:9 can't really be applied to my life/your life at this point.
I definitely agree that we're called to rejoice in thanksgiving, but I also believe that focusing on our sinful nature takes our eyes off of Christ and thrusts them upon ourselves. This is why Paul, throughout his New Covenant letters and books, never brings up the subject of asking God's forgiveness. It's because he knew he was already forgiven, and he was writing to other Christians who were already forgiven as well.
Anyways, Heather, I hope I didn't sound too harsh or anything :) I love that we are able to have a dialogue about this!!
thank you :)
1. I thoroughly enjoy your blog...don't think i have ever commented before.
2. I agree with Heather. If we don't need to ask the Lord for forgiveness for our sins, then what do we do with Matthew 6:9-13:
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
And it is talked about again in Luke 11:1-4:
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.And lead us not into temptation.’”
This is Jesus telling us how to pray, in which it includes asking Him for forgiveness. Wondering what your thoughts are??? =)
Liv! Thank you so much for the comment :)
Okay, so to tackle your question, I'm going to first refer you to my response to Heather's comment, on when I talk about the New Covenant.
.........
Did you read it? Great! So, I'll expand on it a little bit.
A lot of people assume that the New Covenant begins right when Jesus was born. They think, "Oh, New Cov = New Testament!" But really, the New Cov begins at the cross, when Jesus dies. His death ushered this new covenant. The New Cov was prophesied throughout the Old Testament, and on the day Christ died, it went into effect.
A covenant is the same thing as a will. For a will to go into effect, the one who made it has to die. So this helps us understand Hebrews 9:16-17: "In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living."
So, if God wanted his New Cov to happen, Christ had to die. And He did.
Essentially, the diff between the two covs is this -
Old: bound by law, man trying to get to god, no grace
New: free in Christ, lots of grace and hope
When Jesus taught the Lord's Prayer in the New Testament, He was still alive. He hadn't died yet, so at that time, this was how they lived. Of course they had to ask for forgiveness - Christ hadn't gone to the cross yet.
This, then, is the sheer BEAUTY of Jesus. He set us free from all of this legalism and strain in the Old Cov. His death ushered in a brand new one, where we can rest in complete assurance of our salvation, accepted and loved and forgiven.
What do you think? Feel free to email me to continue the discussion :) I can also send you some study guides/devos if you want!
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