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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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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Move the camera

On October 11, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 10: 2

Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?

This is a discussion about sin consciousness versus righteousness consciousness. The author of Hebrews contrasts the sacrifices of old with the sacrifice of Jesus. The Old Testament sacrifices were not able to completely erase the sin stain which is why sacrifices had to be made every year. The sacrifice of the perfect, unblemished lamb, however, has once and for all, cleansed the saints, completely removing even the smell of former sin. This author writes that we have been made perfect by the sacrifice Jesus made, “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Hebrews 10: 14). That is you. You are the one who has been cleansed, sanctified and perfected. Because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, even the memory of our sin has been blotted from God’s memory. If we are cleansed, then, we should “no longer have . . . consciousness of sins.” But we do, don’t we.

Here is where the idea of moving the camera comes into play. Imagine yourself as a major Hollywood director. The actors are on the set, all is in readiness and you tell the camera operator to begin filming the scene. At the end of the scene you realize that the placement of the camera tells a different story than the one you intended to convey so you shift the camera just a little and eureka, an entirely different tableau is revealed. This is what we have to do with sin, forgiveness and our consciousness of each.

If we have the camera positioned on ourselves all of the time, our failures, sins, short-comings and brokenness are going to play like a melodrama if not a horror story. However, we can move the camera. So take your camera and shift it until Jesus is in the frame. What do you see now? What kind of movie will that camera shift make? It should be an adventure movie of heroic proportions where the hero saves the day and saves the lives of every person. It is Superman on steroids. Our hero saves us and even blots out the thoughts of the calamity which loomed so heavily before us. The difference in watching a film where we are poor sinners and one where we are saved is all in moving the camera just a tic. We change so that the lens is no longer focused on us but rather on Jesus and that makes all the difference in the world.

I find this teeter-totter between sin consciousness and righteousness consciousness to be a bit like the old glass half empty/half full proverb. Half empty people are focusing on themselves and what they see would frighten anyone. Glass half full people have abandoned their close-up for a shot of Jesus. When we focus on him and what he has done, it becomes ludicrous if not insulting for us to talk about our sins or even remember them. We have all failed. That is a fact. But the bigger and controlling fact is that Jesus took away all of our failures and laid them at the foot of the cross. Unless you are so important that your sin is bigger and more important than Jesus, then you have permission today to be completely free from every sin your ever committed. You have been cleansed. If Jesus cleansed you, why do you keep looking at yourself as dirty?

It’s all about him and what he has done. You have never done anything big enough to eclipse his victory. You have been sanctified and perfected by Christ so your thoughts should no longer be about YOUR sin, but rather about HIS righteousness. You should embrace righteousness consciousness and leave sin consciousness behind. It is an affront to the blood of Christ. All you have to do is to move your camera just a bit. Put Jesus in the frame and he will put you in his glory.

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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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No Longer Sinners

On July 14, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 John 3: 6

No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 

Christians make a big deal about sin. It is kind of interesting really that people who have been redeemed from sin would be so sin conscious. But look, Jesus has solved the sin problem forever so let’s get sin off of our minds and focus on that indwelling victory within us. We are saints, not sinners.

You may hear people confessing that they are “an old sinner saved by grace.” Well, which is it? Are you a sinner or saved by grace. Surely, today’s verse will change our confession. We know what these folks mean though, don’t we? They are trying to give Jesus a nod for what he has done for us so it usually is well intentioned. However, I want to get those words out of your mouth because you are now a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 17). You have been reborn. The old person has died and behold you are new. Hallelujah. We need to focus on what Jesus did for us in that miracle transformation instead of always looking back at the dirty garments he took from us. Those are grave clothes and they are supposed to be in the grave with the old self. 

Are we perfect? Well, yes. When we are abiding in him and following his leading, we are with the perfect and we are perfect. But then the old man resurrects and we do something stupid or we just simply make mistakes. No problem. Jesus took care of that so we just run to him as fast as our little spirits will carry us and trade our error for his flawlessness. We run to the altar in our minds and cast our “self” on the altar and put on Jesus.

Am I minimizing sin? By no means! I am casting it into the pit of hell where it belongs. My purpose in this devotional is to get sin off our minds and out of our mouths. We should be focused on Jesus and his righteousness. I want to change your self-image. 1 John 3: 9 says, “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” This is where we live. We don’t practice sin. We abide in the Holy One of God and we cannot sin. Just keep abiding. Get out of yourself and into Jesus. Let his abiding presence be louder than your former sin. Lose your sin consciousness and revel in the saving grace which abides in you. This simple paradigm shift will lead you to praise and you will be lifted up rather than down trodden.

Look, here is the bottom line, sinners aren’t getting into heaven so you better decide you are a saint. No sinner abides in Christ and Christ most certainly does not abide in a sinner. Put on your reformation in Christ. Let your eyes be fixed on Jesus and the wonder of his majesty instead of focusing constantly on yourself and your shortcomings. In other words, get yourself off your mind. Jesus is our heart, soul and has become our very existence. You are truth and righteousness in the Lord, Jesus, our Messiah.

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