When praying about our status with the Lord after having received Christ’s salvation we can have not a shred of doubt that we’re forgiven and spiritually covered with the blood sacrifice of Jesus. We therefore can be secure in the assurance of salvation and of our right through Jesus' sacrifice to enter Heaven. Nevertheless, we still may be overcome with humility and sorrow for the mistakes (sins) we've committed in the past. Some of these sins may have resulted in severe, lasting harm to ourselves and to others.
As each of these thoughts, acts and deeds occur, they cause us to slip in our relationship with the Lord. Unconfessed and therefore unforgiven sin looms before us, driving us further from the Lord’s comforting presence. Our holy God cannot be in the presence of sin. He withdraws bit by bit as we continue headlong down destructive paths of attitudes and deeds. When we sense this separation in our spirits we need to stop and reconsider the decisions we have been making. Have we sincerely sought the will of God before proceeding with our plans? Have we searched our hearts and minds for things we have done which affect ourselves and/or others adversely? Failing diligently to seek God’s will before making decisions, brushing past nagging concerns that these may not meet God’s approval for our lives, can be defined as disobedience and rebellion, which are sin.
At such points we need to stop what we are doing, find a quiet place to have a discussion with the Lord (prayer), asking Him to forgive us for our attitudes and actions. Sometimes it requires lengthy periods of introspection, asking God to reveal to our minds those areas that are not pleasing to Him. We also need to ask Him to show us the adverse effects our words and actions have had in the lives of others so that we may pray about them and make retribution if possible.
When God has revealed to our spirits the consequences of our wrong actions we need to take these matters before God in prayer, itemizing each wrong we have done, along with the wrong that we have brought into the lives of others. We then need to do what the Bible commands us to do, I John 1:6-9, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
We do not have to worry about whether He will forgive us after we have confessed because the verses just quoted promise after confession, “..He is faithful and just to forgive us....” From that point on, as far as God is concerned those sins are gone, never committed, and dropped into the “sea of God’s forgetfulness” never to be remembered against us anymore. The Blood sacrifice of Jesus covers all sins, as long as we CONFESS AND REPENT OF THEM to Him. If we refuse to confess these after-salvation sins, then we shall be judged for them at the Bema Seat Judgment seat of Christ after the resurrection. It is much better to get these sins under the blood of Jesus and forgiven through repentance and confession to Him in prayer. By addressing these sins we can see where we have a tendency to slip. At the same time we can ask the Lord for strength and power to resist such sins in future. If we ask, He will help. As Jesus said, “You have not because you ask not.”
Unfortunately, although God forgives us and no longer holds it against us that we did sin in the past, we still need to face up to the fact that our sins may have caused extreme hardship on ourselves or others. It is our duty as Christians to pray for God to alleviate the harm that we have done. We need to pray earnestly that God makes up the difference for those people who have been harmed by our unwise and sinful actions. Even though God forgives and forgets, the ones whom we have harmed may not find it easy to forgive, much less forget. It is incumbent on us not only to pray for these people but also to go to them, asking forgiveness for the harm we have done.
It is extremely difficult to humble ourselves and go to these people to ask forgiveness. Some people find it difficult to forgive and these may feel justified in “giving us a piece of their mind” for what we have done. In those circumstances it is easy to become angry because they do not seem to understand how difficult it was for us to go to them to ask forgiveness in the first place. Nevertheless, the Lord will give us patience and strength to forbear adding fuel to the fire as we seek His help.
A case in point involved, a Christian lady who worked with another woman’s husband. Because of a series of events a brief affair ensued between her and the husband. Both quickly ended the affair and asked forgiveness from the Lord. The guilty woman agonized over a need to confess to the unsuspecting wife and to ask forgiveness. After days in prayer she finally became convinced that a confession from her would create extreme anger and an inability of the wife to forgive. A divorce doubtless would have ensued, breaking up a marriage with permanent disruption of the lives of the two children. In that case it was better, after ensuring that the sin would not be repeated, to leave the whole matter in the Lord’s hands. She understood the need never to try to relieve her own mind by confessing to other, unaffected parties who might not be able to resist the temptation to share a juicy piece of gossip and therefore multiply the disasterous consequences needlessly.
The consequences of that slip (sin), however was that the guilty woman felt constrained to quit the job she had enjoyed but which would continue to place her in contact with the husband. She moved to another city where she developed new friends and church associates. This was a case where a sin, although forgiven after repentance and confession to the Lord, caused permanent changes in her life. Fortunately the Lord was good for His word to help us through all of our temptations and trials as we seek His help. She eventually married and continued to serve the Lord.
On the other hand, some people fool themselves into thinking that the injured party has no conception of the sin that has been on-going. In a similar example, the guilty husband and his guilty partner fooled themselves into thinking that the wife had no idea of the betrayal. In fact, she was fully aware but said nothing since to do so might cause a divorce which would place her future financial security as well as the well-being of the children into grave jeopardy. She suffered in silence and emotionally withdrew from her husband because of the emotional pain she was bearing. Some betrayed spouses have sought solace in alcohol or other substances, thus increasing the spiritual and physical destruction precipitated by sin.
Then speaking of the New Jerusalem, Rev. 21: 27, “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination, or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
There is NO caveat here that interjects, “unless they had become Christians early in life, in which case they may perform such deeds as they please....the sacrifice of Jesus automatically covers all of their sins in advance.” NO! NOT!
The sense of the scripture is that if they had been Christians and found themselves falling into such sins, then it is incumbent upon them to STOP the sinning, be sorry, repent and confess their sins and ask Jesus to forgive them for slipping and for being such a bad example for others. If they have done this (repentance and confession to God), then without a doubt their sins will be forgiven, never to be remembered anymore, provided repentance had occurred and they truly intended not to continue in that particular sin.
As Paul said, the grace that we have received from Christ does not give us the right to continue living a life of sin. We are commanded to turn away from sin and to ask for help from God to strengthen us so that we do not slip back into those old lifestyles in which we were immersed prior to receiving salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for us.
The inference here is that it is a normal, expected part of our Christian experience to continue occasionally doing those things that clearly are labeled “sin”, that God expects it and automatically covers it in advance. We are commanded to strive for perfection, as Jesus indicated in Matt. 5:48, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven also is perfect.” This is our goal here on earth and we should strive to meet it, not to excuse our deficiencies as to-be-expected for humans who claim to be sinners, saved by grace.
As we who have accessed the blood of Jesus and the throne of grace we are no longer to identify ourselves as sinners, even though we have made serious mistakes of judgment on occasion. “Normal” for us is the standard of righteousness exhibited by our Lord and Savior, our supreme example, Jesus Christ.
In all situations, as redeemed, Christian, free moral agents, we almost always have the right and responsibility to make choices: right or wrong, good or evil, submitted or rebellious, etc. We answer for the choices we make in terms of gain or loss of rewards. Even though we are not to be cast into hell, we can lose rewards for our attitudes and actions. (Rewards: Gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay or stubble which burn)
We are always to strive toward perfection in our Christian walk although we'll never achieve total perfection on this side of glory. As Luke quoted Jesus, Luke 21:36, Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” If our attitudes and actions as Christians made no difference, Jesus would not have had the unfairness to demand of us that we be "accounted worthy". Jesus wasn't saying that we'd lose our salvation but that we could lose the chance to leave before judgment falls upon the earth in the tribulation period. He was concerned about the timing with which it would be our turn to escape the horrors of the tribulation.
There is nothing of self-righteousness here. In honesty we are continually appalled to recall how truly unworthy of His grace we have been and how extremely difficult it continues to be to keep accounts current with Jesus and with our fellow man. We are not trying to “earn” salvation. Salvation is by grace alone. We are rewarded for the life we have lived and the good that we have done for the Kingdom of God and for other people.
Soldiers who are guilty of dereliction of duty are court marshaled. We all have been derelict at one time or another. There also are times when it is impossible in this life to rectify our errors. We then must throw ourselves on the mercy of the court. It is through the love and mercy of God through Jesus Christ that we have not been booted out of the army of God and our names blotted from the book of life. That's amazing grace.
In another allegory, like good fighters, after each round our trainer (the Holy Spirit) douses us with refreshing water, (sanctification in our daily walk with the Lord). Our trainer takes care of fresh wounds and encourages us to get back in the ring for more rounds until the fight is over. We then take our rewards, according to the Lord’s promises. We have fought the good battle. We have won the fight. We enter into the kingdom of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, forever to be with Him in his glory and greatness in the new heaven and the new earth.
This sermon is part of the Virtual Church Web Site.Comments for the author:kincaid@chickasaw.com Comments, suggestions and questions: info@virtualchurch.org
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