“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6:34-34 KJV)
As a believer in Christ who received the free gift of Salvation through the atonement for your sins provided by Jesus Christ on the cross do you still tend to condemn yourself? You try your best to do right by God but sometimes you stumble and sin. Do you then condemn yourself when you sin and think that you must do something because I messed up again. Do you then start focusing on your own self righteousness to regain your Salvation? If so, you need to stop doing that.
Jesus said we are to seek the kingdom of God, yes! But we are not to seek after our own righteousness! Seek ye first HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS! Does that mean to be righteous in your good works ? In part, yes because it is right to do such out of gratitude for God’s grace and love. But not to regain Salvation. Not so that God does not reject you nor end your Salvation. Jesus sacrifice for sins was for the sins OF THE WHOLE WORLD!
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD.” (1 John 2:2 KJV)
Did you realize that Christ died not only for believer’s sins but for the sins of the whole world? In the Greek, ‘whole world’ is the word ‘holos’ and it’s meaning is ‘all, completely’. That means ALL OF THE SINS including all Past, present, and future sins. All means ALL right? And since for us, every sin we commit is future from the cross, even the sins we commit after our moment of accepting the free gift of Salvation through Christ are also completely paid for.
When Jesus died on the cross to pay for the sins of the whole world what did He cry out just before He expired physically? He cried out, ‘IT IS FINISHED‘ right? If you look at the Greek this was penned in the New Testament do you know that in the Greek it literally means ‘DEBT PAID IN FULL’? That is some truth isn’t it? A truth to shout about in great joy and gratitude!
For the believer, our justification and righteousness are now based on Christ, not us. Do you know that when God the Father looks on Jesus, He sees you and me? That to God we are one with Christ and Christ is one with the Father and we are all one together now? Great God Almighty! He has saved us to the utmost brothers and sisters in Christ. How righteous are we after our belief on Christ to save us? We are as righteous as Christ Himself. It does not feel like it and we still have this thing in our mind called The Flesh and it is weak. The old thoughts and beliefs of the old Spirit of Adam that died with Christ (Romans 6, Colossians 2). But God has declared this to be true regardless.
Just before the cross Jesus prayed for you and me and in this awesome prayer in John 17 Jesus prays to the Father,
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that THEY also may be ONE IN US: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” (John 17: 20-23 KJV)
Regardless of our feelings of guilt and remorse, we have become one with God through Christ. As believers, we are now IN CHRIST completely. We are justified in Christ completely.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians to rebuke them for the way they were living after their Salvation. They are a very bad example of what a body of believers should be. Yet, Apostle Paul addressed them as MY BRETHREN. He addressed them as believers on Christ and as saved people by the blood of Christ. Paul makes this bold statement to them,
“For he hath MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US, who knew no sin; that we might BE MADE the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV)
We are MADE righteous by God through belief on Christ’s atonement and NOT by our own self righteous deeds. This is also true after we are saved. Our Salvation and justification with God is a gift of God’s grace. An unmerited favor. Now, God did not want to force anyone to accept this free gift. He wants a real relationship with us. He does not want robots without wanting a relationship with Him. Free will is important to God. Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world. His sacrifice was so great that it paid for the sins of even Adolf Hitler (I can hear you gasping). It paid for the sins of murderers, thieves, idolators, the sexually immoral and the list goes on and on. His sacrifice was that powerful and that complete. Christ’s payment was not a partial payment for sins; it was a full payment! But did Hitler accept the free gift of Salvation? I doubt it! And what about Judas Iscariot? He walked with Jesus and dinned with him during His Earthly ministry. Yet, Scriptures show us that in the end He was not saved because He did not believe in Christ as Saviour.
A gift is something to be accepted or you have not received the gift at all right? And so not all who have sinned will receive this free gift, even though Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world. Jesus puts it this way very clearly,
“That WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM should not perish, but have EVERLASTING LIFE. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that BELIEVETH ON HIM is not condemned: but he that BELIEVETH NOT is condemned ALREADY, because he hath not BELIEVED in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3: 15-18 KJV)
The gift of Salvation must be RECEIVED in order for it to take effect on a person. So how do we receive it? By using our self righteous efforts in deeds and Law keeping? NO, Jesus does not say that here! Jesus said, ‘WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH ON HIM”. That is how a person receives the free gift of Salvation and eternal life through Christ and when a person does believe this; oh my what a gift they really have!
Now since God bestowed on us such a great gift that we have believed and received, and knowing we have the very righteousness of God in Christ and we have been MADE one with God, why do we still have sin in our life? We try not to sin. We turn from our sin yet we still stumble and we just cannot seem to get rid of this ‘sin problem’.
First, BELIEVE your ‘sin problem’ has been already taken care of at the cross by Jesus. Your sins are already PAID IN FULL. Your Salvation and eternal life is fully intact, never to be revoked! It is all about your belief on Christ. You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13-14).
In the book of Hebrews, the author is addressing Hebrew believers. In proper context and in all ten chapters of the book of Hebrews when it mentions the word ‘sin’ it is always referring to one specific sin and not our sins in general. This sin is the sin of UNBELIEF on Christ’s atonement as God in the flesh. As in 1 John, the author of Hebrews seems to be rebuking a heresy that false teachers were trying to get true Jewish believers to accept. This heresy is called Gnosticism.
Gnosticism in incompatible with Biblical Christianity because Gnostics do not believe that a person can be born again through Christ. They deny that we are saved because Christ died in our place and took on the punishment for our sins but instead rely on extra Biblical ‘secret knowledge’ they say has been imparted to them as if they are special somehow. This was a big heresy in the early church and is being shown as false. The Gnostics teachings were causing fear in some of the Jewish believers and had them questioning their faith on Christ alone for Salvation. And then there were also those still steeped in Jewish tradition who were telling believers that Christ’s sacrifice alone was not enough but that they needed to also follow the Law of Moses as well. Both of these false heresies were the sin of UNBELIEF which the author of Hebrews is addressing.
In Hebrews we find this amazing truth regarding our Salvation,
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12 KJV)
My brothers and sisters in Christ, that is just how fully eradicated our sin debt now is in Christ. JUST BELIEVE IT! We are now the very righteousness of God in Christ. This is speaking of our newly created Spirit. Yet, we still have this sin nature called the Flesh in our body and all it wants to do for the most part, is sin.
Our newly created Spirit from God is HOLY, RIGHTEOUS and REDEEMED. It never sins and is PERFECT as the seed of God. This Spirit is the new us since our moment of becoming ‘born again’ in the spirit. Jesus said we are born of the flesh and through Him we are born of the spirit (John 3).
The Apostle Paul taught us The Doctrine of The Two Natures In The MIND Of A Believer in Romans 7. Our newly created spirit is at war with The old, and now dead, Spirit of Adam sin nature called ‘The Flesh’,. Why? because we have not yet received our new resurrected bodies at the Rapture of Believers. This new body will no longer have the sin nature and then, and only then can we say we have sinless perfection. Right now, we as Paul did, will struggle in this war within us between the Spirit and the Flesh in our MINDS. All the Scriptures about our walk AFTER receiving the gift of Salvation are about how to win these battles, even though we cannot win them all. Believers will Sin after Salvation and those teaching that sinless perfection is true are ignoring clear Scriptures like these in 1 John 1. Here again John is rebuking the false teachings of the Gnostics who did not believe we have sin nor that Jesus paid for our sins. But the truth is, as believers, we still have sin.
“If we say that we have no sin, WE DECEIVE OURSELVES, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8
“If we say that we have not sinned, WE MAKE HIM A LIAR, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10 KJV)
So As Believers Can We Just Sin All We Want Without Consequences?
Does the amazing Grace of God mean that believers can just go on sinning however they want with no consequences? No it does not! The Grace of God is not a license to sin and there are consequences in this life (steal/jail/ murder/death penalty) and loss of rewards at the Bema Seat judgement of believers just after our bodily resurrection in the future. But the truth is if that is the attitude about the Grace of God that you have, you need to ask yourself if you truly understand it or if you are even saved. Why do I say that? Because just having an intellectual understanding of how we are saved is not the same as truly believing it and receiving it with thankfulness and gratitude. A person who has received and accepted Christ now has from the moment of belief been indwelled by the Holy Spirit or promise (Ephesians 1:13-14 KJV). The Holy Spirit will guide a person and convict a person of their sins. He will chastise a believer to help the person repent (which is defined by the Bible as ‘to change our mind’ about sin).
Remember when you were younger? Living with your parents. And you stole that cookie mom said not to have before dinner? Oh yeah.. OH YEAH! It was tasty right? Well, that is until mom caught you! “Off to your room for two days. You need to understand not to do that or you will get fat.” Mom did it because she loves you and knows what is best for you. Now, did mom kick you out of the family until you made amends? Of course not. Your Salvation as a child of God is completely intact because the sin debt was already paid on the cross. Yet, God wants us to be transformed into the image of Christ which is the process of our sanctification.
What Should We Do Then?
We need to seek Christ’s righteousness and not our own. Seek the Kingdom of God and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Because we are IN CHRIST now and it is based on HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ALONE that we are saved and deemed Holy enough for entrance to Heaven.
Apostle Paul taught that we should,
“…Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:17 KJV)
We need to realize that the temptations and lusts of the flesh are not US anymore. They are dead to us, and died at the cross. We are now the NEW US, the newly created Spirit of God within. We need to listen and know the spirit is the real us now as believers and then move forward to reject any evil thoughts and reject any temptations that come our way. I did not say it is easy! It is a real struggle at times for us all.
The devil is slinging them at us constantly! Did you know that not every thought that comes cross your mind is from the newly created Spirit in us. Once you realize this, it helps gives us power to overcome them by God’s power dwelling within us. Paul says we can do this by,
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” (2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV)
Can we do this perfectly and without fail?
Ask yourself who really has been able to? NO ONE! But it is what we should be doing to the best of our ability as believers saved by God’s Grace. We should be striving to avoid sin in our life. I mean, what good is it really?! Is any result of sin a good consequence in the end?
But we must acknowledge that we will fail and sin as well. The Flesh is weak in fighting temptations to sin. Our Spirit is willing because it is perfectly Holy and without sin but walking in our flesh we find it hard sometimes to resist temptations. We need to be diligent and know the devil and his fallen angels are scheming things around you so that you will sin. This sin after Salvation will not result in loss of your Salvation but if satan can get you focused on your failure to resist sin and get you feeling guilty about it, your focus is now on your SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS and not on Christ’s righteous that you were made into. You take your focus off what Christ is doing in your life and reaching others for the kingdom of God. That is the devil’s goal.
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 6:41 KJV)
So focus on the truth that as a believer who accepted God’s atonement for sin through Christ; that you have been MADE the very righteousness of God IN Christ. Seek after His Righteousness – not yours. BELIEVE IT. Wake up everyday and acknowledge to God that you believe you are the righteousness of God in Christ. Ask God to empower you to resist the schemes of the devil and his fallen angels by the truth of the Word of God (Read Ephesians 6).
Remember what Jesus said,
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall MAKE YOU FREE.” (John 8: 31-32 KJV)
Bible Knowledge Matters In The Life Of A Believer!
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6 KJV)
Knowledge of the Word of God is POWER! God’s Word is not dead words. They are living and true and real. Believe that regardless of what your feeling are telling you. Feelings can be deceptive. The real truth is what he Bible says. So, just…BELIEVE IT.
