Clean

On August 19, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 9:13-14       (New Living Translation)

Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

I want to discuss sin consciousness. This scripture tells us that under the old dispensation, the blood of animals was able to clean people, ceremonially, so that they could worship God as clean individuals. The blood sacrifice covered their sin so that they could go before God. The blood only covered their sin though. It still remained but was overlaid by the blood of sacrifice. The blood of animals did not and could not erase their sin.

We are under a different covenant with God now because of the shed blood of Jesus. 1 John 1: 7 says, “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” When we have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice and confessed Him as Lord, then He is righteous and good to forgive our sins. His blood doesn’t cover our sin; it eradicates it from the memory of God. It is as if it never happened. The blood of animals only covered sin so that we could enter God’s presence but Jesus’ blood, the blood of the unblemished lamb, has completely erased our sin and completely cleansed our souls. We can therefore stand before God spotless in the blood of the lamb.

This is really important to grasp. God no longer sees you as a sinner. He does not even know what sin you are talking about because it has been completely washed away by Jesus. The only place that sin still exists is in your mind. But this scripture tells us that the blood of Christ has the power to purify and clean your conscience. You must let go of that sin consciousness and allow the blood of Christ to stand for you. It is only vanity that keeps you holding on to your deeds instead of yielding to Jesus’ great act. When you take your mind off of yourself (including your past acts) and put it on Jesus and His wonderful intercession, then you will be able to enjoy a holiness consciousness instead of a sin consciousness. You will let go of past failures and glorify God for Jesus’ great success. You are no longer a lowly worm of a sinner if you have confessed your sin and allowed the blood of the perfect lamb to wash you clean. If you have not confessed your sin and if you are not letting Jesus wash you clean, then you have a much bigger problem that should be addressed. But if you are really a child of the Most High through the shed blood of Jesus, then your sin no longer exists. It has been washed away by the one who is greater than you. You can and should let it go and live in the glory of who He is rather than in the failure of who you were. It is all about Him and He has perfectly redeemed you with His own precious blood.

Quit wallowing around in your sin and stand erect and perfect in the blood of the lamb. Do not make the blood of Jesus of no effect by continuing to hang on to a sin consciousness. You are no longer an old sinner burdened by past sin. He has made you clean, and you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him,” 2 Corinthians 5: 21. It is not holy for you to keep beating yourself up about past sin. It is not saintly for you to continue to humbly call yourself a sinner. It is a false humility based on your acts instead of the actions of Jesus and it is a sacrilege. Let go of your sin consciousness and adopt instead a glory consciousness for the miracle that Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit have wrought in you.

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White as Snow

On November 14, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   1 Comment

Isaiah 59: 1 – 2

Behold the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; neither is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.

Hallelujah! What may sound like rough news to some is shouting ground for us because the blood of Jesus washed away our sins, the only thing that separated us from God. Yahoo! Because of Jesus, our Father hears our every word. His hand is right on our shoulder leading us and protecting us. His arm is well able to save and His ear able to hear. The only thing that blocked Him from us was the veil of sin. Praise God Jesus tore that veil asunder and because he did, we now stand in the very presence of God.

When you know who you are in Christ Jesus, when you get a revelation of the victory He won for us, what was previously bad news becomes glory ground. If you are not 100% sure of your standing, then say this:

“Jesus, I thank you for your righteous blood which has washed away all my sin and iniquity. Lord, I receive your great sacrifice and I accept your cleansing power. I lay my whole life; former, present and future, at your feet, at the feet of the cross. Lord, receive my life as a love offering. Come fill my life, spirit, soul and body with your presence and with your love and be my Lord all the days of my life. Amen.”

Now you are as clean as Jesus’ robes. In fact, God sees His righteousness when He looks at you. You have the saving grace of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit on you and in you. His voice is in your ear and your voice is a melody in His ear. Bless the Lord and be blessed.

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Forgiven

On December 2, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 51: 1 – 4

Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings. Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my wrongdoings, and my sin is constantly before me.

Please consider the following passage: “Behold, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; But You have kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have hurled all my sins behind Your back” (Isaiah 38: 17). The reason I wanted you to consider these two passages together is so that we can get at the root of guilt and forgiveness. Notice from the Psalm that it was writer’s own guilt and remorse which plagued him. It was not God’s judgment which tormented him. His sin was constantly before his own eyes. He could not escape it. Contrast that with the passage from Isaiah. Here the speaker was well aware of God’s grace and lovingkindness. He recognized that we deserve the pit of nothingness, to be cast out into the darkness, but that God, despite our many faults and shortcomings has chosen to turn His back on our sins. He has forgiven us and not because we deserve it, for which I am grateful, but rather because of His magnanimity.

I am grateful it is unnecessary to earn the graciousness of God for surely, I would fail. Better that He is kind and generous with forgiveness. The struggle, then, is to let go of our own guilt. It is our guilt and sin consciousness which separates us from God. I chose this Old Testament example so as to frame the New Testament miracle of Christ and his sacrifice. I cannot find the right word to characterize what the Father and Jesus did for us at Calvary because it is so big and so wonderous. What is also worthy of comment, though, is that this great divine exchange of Jesus’ life for our sin began with a Father who, in the Old Testament, chose to cast our sins to His back. He chose not to put them before His eyes. Knowing how flawed we are, He chose, none the less, to put His only child on a crucificial cross.

God paid the ultimate price for us to have our conscience cleansed. He removed the guilt which separates us from Him by giving us a way to purge ourselves of the sin consciousness. This is the great miracle, that we can be guilty and yet clean; that we can boldly draw close to Him. Paul said it this way, “Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need,” (Hebrews 4: 16). We have the right to approach the throne of grace and we can do so confidently because the Father has forgiven our sin and washed us clean. There is nothing we can do to earn this favor. There is no 7-step forgiveness plan. It is done. Yahweh has already done what was needed. Now, we must accept His great sacrifice and receive the miracle of forgiveness, allowing our consciousness to be renewed in Christ.

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Conscience Bath

On May 8, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 9: 14

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The writer of Hebrews makes the comparison between the Old Testament sacrifice of the blood of animals to the New Covenant established in the blood of Jesus. The blood of animals was able to purify people so that they were presented clean. How much more the blood of Christ? However, let us take note. This verse really isn’t so much about being washed and, thus, presented holy and clean as it is about sin consciousness. There is a big difference.

Would you feel more clean, more justified if I sprinkled you with the blood of a sacrificed animal? That is the issue here. The blood of Christ is pristine enough to sear our consciousness of sin, that is, if we allow it. There is power in the blood of Christ but there is more power in your authority as the decision maker. As I have written before, you are either an old sinner or you are saved by grace. To say that you are an old sinner saved by grace makes a good sound byte but the reality is that you are either one or the other. We understand what people are attempting to convey with that statement, and it is meant to be a statement of humility. However, the greatest statement of all is, “I am clean.” Now that is a faith statement and it takes throwing yourself completely into the blood and sacrifice of Christ to make it.

The point of this verse and this theme is that since Christ cleansed you from all unrighteousness and washed away your sin (past, present and future) with his blood, then you ought to have a clean conscience as well. If we maintain a guilty conscience, or awareness of our sin, then that is a confession that Jesus’ blood was not sufficient. A continuing reminder of our former sin, then, tends to give way to dead works. What are dead works? Those are the things we do, even subconsciously, to earn salvation.

We know we are unworthy of salvation. Therefore, we subconsciously do the things which we think will earn us favor with God. We try to do the “right things.” At one level these behaviors and the motivation for them appear, if not holy, at least rightful. In truth, though, they are repugnant, a stench in the nostrils of God. Why? The reason is because the entire paradigm is based on an egocentric religion. It does not flow from faith and thanksgiving to the Almighty. It does not depend on the blood of Christ. This salvation depends solely on our worthiness. This righteousness comes through our own strength. We must earn the favor of God through behaviors.

The true faith lies in surrender. It requires much greater faith in God and in the sacrifice He and Jesus made to say, “I was unworthy but now I am clean.” God says you are His righteousness now. (2 Corinthians 5: 21). There is nothing you can do to add to your standing with Him and the blood of Christ, when it is fully and freely accepted, cleanses, purges the consciousness of sin and stain. Our very conscience will be wiped clean from dead works. In that clean conscience is living worship and service to the king.

If you can’t say, “I stand clean before the Lord,” then meditate on this scripture and 2 Corinthians 5: 21. You have been made clean by Jesus’ blood. You will never be more clean than you are at this moment nor will sin stain your conscience if you accept what Christ did. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, no longer an old sinner but fully and completely saved and washed by grace. Glory to God and our precious Lord Jesus!

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Clean

On February 9, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 15: 3

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Jesus’ work is complete. Did you know that? Even before the cross he said the words he spoke made people clean. Do you find that amazing? What amazes me is that today, after the cross, people are still obsessed with their dirt. If we are Christians, we need only be obsessed with Jesus’ righteousness. It is he who cleanses us and nothing we have ever done or ever will do will make us worthy of the righteousness of God. None the less, the scriptures say that we are the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5: 21).

Look, we are all human and fall short of the glory of God but sin doesn’t make you a sinner unless your status is predicated on your prowess. Of course, none of us wants to sin, yet we do. That is why we needed a savior. He is the glory and the righteousness of God so we just bury ourselves in him. In him, we also are the glory and the righteousness of God. Apart from him, we are broken husks of humanity.

Jesus has made us clean, so lose the sin consciousness. Put on a saved and redeemed consciousness. To focus on our sin, on our short-comings is to be self-centered. We are supposed to be Christ-centered. In other words, our thoughts and perspectives are about him, what he has done and who we are in him. Who we are in ourselves is not important. We weren’t satisfied with that person which is why we gave lordship to Jesus. Who we are in Christ is everything.

The sacrifice is complete; the work done. Jesus has perfected us in him. He has cleansed us and made us whole. He is the glory and the lifter of our heads so that we can joyfully walk into the throne room of God, unashamed. My big brother paid the price when I couldn’t. That is everything.

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