Complete Forgiveness in Christ!
I John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Are you confessing
over and over to God? Weeping, groaning, running to altar calls to somehow become
cleaner through your attempt to get God’s attention. Stop it!
I have been taught over
the years that asking God to forgive me over and over was somehow something I
should do to draw closer to God. I believed that we should confess over and
over to some how relieve the guilt, the shame, or the sin. I ran forward to
altar calls, weeping and wailing, begging and pleading in years past. I
attended prayer meetings and even led prayer meetings where I encouraged people
to come clean before they drew close to God. Well think again. This verse above was not
even written to Christians but to unbelievers. We have to rightly divide the
Word of God and realize that Scripture is for our benefit, yet some of it
simply does not apply to us.
In the verse above, John
is talking to Gnostic, unbelievers, not believers. Yet this verse has been
preached to us indicating that we should constantly confess our sins to cleanse
us from unrighteousness. Well, here is something you should know. In Christ
Jesus, you are not a sinner anymore. You are righteous in Christ in salvation.
Yes you do sin and can sin because you are human, but you are not defined as a
sinner but as righteous in Christ. Think about that for a while. I definitely
had to mull this over during this past year. There is a big difference in the
simple fact that in our humanness we miss the mark in our daily lives as
opposed to defining yourself as a sinner.
In being human, we
wholeheartedly receive the total forgiveness that Christ accomplished for us on
the cross and walk in that freedom. Talking to God in the midst of our
imperfections is to draw close to Him in intimacy, not to be forgiven.
In defining yourself
as a ‘sinner” (which you are not if you are righteous in Christ) you walk with
a whole different perspective in life. You define yourself by your faults, your
guilt, your shame, and so much more. And you walk in this truth, never fully
accepting your total forgiveness and acceptance in Christ. Why do this? Christ
accomplished total forgiveness for us on the cross. Receive it and believe it
and walk in it!
In the finished work
of the cross, you are forgiven. You can’t be more forgiven or less forgiven.
You are forgiven of it all – past, present and future. Once you enter into that
pure, simply revelation of forgiveness a light goes on and you receive the fact
that you are in Christ, righteous and clean. It is finished!
1 Corinthians 1:30
But of Him you are in Christ
Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption —
You are righteous in
Christ – in Christ!
