Let's All Give Up in 2015 (Part III)
- by Jonathan Whitaker
I have a question for all of you teachers out there, if I were to go to your school today, where would I find my permanent grade-school record? The permanent grade-school record is the single most important document in the record of a human's life. We are taught from a young age that if we mess up, step out of line just a bit, the consequences would be a mark on our permanent record. We all know it's out there, serving as an open indictment against each one of us. Worse yet, everyone knows the intimate details of your record. your teachers know it, your parents, your boss, your in-laws. The only escape from your permanent grade school record is death itself…Sweet release!
Hopefully by now we all know that a mark on our record was a farce, an empty threat, used by adults to scare us straight. But, to our core as humans we know that there is a standing record against us. That record, as most of you have already guessed, is sin. We are born with a sin nature; we are selfish right from the womb; sin is inevitable. Sin is the real permanent record... or is it? Well that all depends, is Jesus your Lord?
I offer you the permanent record conundrum because I want you to understand blessing, true blessing from its deepest, most elemental meaning; the blessing that comes from having the biggest burden in your life removed from your shoulders, permanently. Isaiah 43:25 says, "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins."
When Jesus is Lord of us He removes the greatest burden in our lives: sin. We may not feel it from day to day, but remember that the wages of sin is death and once we are dead, we face judgment (Rom 6:23, Heb 9:27). For believers, the reality is that we no longer have a sin burden, Jesus has removed it from us (but He doesn't stop there). In fact, not only are we free from the consequences that we deserve, but He also burned the record. "I will not remember your sins," that means there is no nagging about what you did ("sure I forgave you, but I will never forget"). Your sin is forgotten, as if it never happened.
What a great deal. The only thing closely comparable to this level of amnesia in my life is when Jennifer asks me to do the dishes. You want to talk about a spiritual level of forgetting something, man that's it.
We no longer have to fear the sin-burden that was killing us. "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you...when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you" (Isaiah 43:1-2). Some of you (you know who you are), will read Isaiah and say, "but he was addressing Israel," and you are right, he was, but take heart! Our Lord is the Lord of a new covenant, and to us he declared, "I will remember their sins and their lawlessness no more" (Heb 10:17).
Christ, the Lord and Creator, was the only sacrifice that could lift the burden of sin. Hebrews 10:14 says, "For by a single offering, He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." When you and I trust Jesus as our Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, then we are among those who are being sanctified. The natural response to a person who has blessed you is gratitude. So naturally, the same is true for us with respect to Christ, we understand the true meaning of blessing because of the Lordship of Christ.
For the believer, there is only one right response to Christ's blessing: obedience. Christ did not save us for our sake; He saved us for His sake (Is 23:25). We use the terms, "bought us with His blood," and "paid our debts," etc. So when Isaiah 43 says, "you are mine," do you know what it means? We are His. We literally are His possession (Ex 19:5).
That puts a different spin on it. As a response to grace we should want to obey Jesus, but as His possession He should expect us to obey. My kids belong to me, and yes I love them and am generous with them, but I also expect them to do what I say. Sometimes they surprise me and bless me with obedience because they want to please me, but even if they don't I still expect obedience. As we are His possession, Christ should expect the same of us.
As I conclude I want you to meditate on obedience as a response to grace. Hebrews 10:25-30 says, "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins”..."The Lord will judge his people”…”It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The ellipsis (...) in this paragraph should give believers pause.
Remember, as a believer your permanent record is expunged. The days of choosing sin and death are in the past. Just as Jesus was faithful to forgive and forget our sin, He should rightfully expect our obedience. How strange to Jesus that His precious ones, bought with His blood, would choose sin over obedience.
These stern words are not meant to scare you to the straight and narrow, but if they do, great. Just as God knows that we are incapable of saving ourselves, He knows we are incapable of even obeying Him. Like salvation, God has also made possible our obedience.
Join me for one last blog about 'giving up' because I have good news, by faith, Christ has transformed the lives of believers throughout history. Our works are worthless to God. Our faith in His finished work is a precious thing to Him. Here comes the real New Year's resolution: in 2015, I want to yield my life in faith to the Lordship of Christ.
Read Hebrews chapter 11 and you will understand what I mean.
Hopefully by now we all know that a mark on our record was a farce, an empty threat, used by adults to scare us straight. But, to our core as humans we know that there is a standing record against us. That record, as most of you have already guessed, is sin. We are born with a sin nature; we are selfish right from the womb; sin is inevitable. Sin is the real permanent record... or is it? Well that all depends, is Jesus your Lord?
I offer you the permanent record conundrum because I want you to understand blessing, true blessing from its deepest, most elemental meaning; the blessing that comes from having the biggest burden in your life removed from your shoulders, permanently. Isaiah 43:25 says, "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins."
When Jesus is Lord of us He removes the greatest burden in our lives: sin. We may not feel it from day to day, but remember that the wages of sin is death and once we are dead, we face judgment (Rom 6:23, Heb 9:27). For believers, the reality is that we no longer have a sin burden, Jesus has removed it from us (but He doesn't stop there). In fact, not only are we free from the consequences that we deserve, but He also burned the record. "I will not remember your sins," that means there is no nagging about what you did ("sure I forgave you, but I will never forget"). Your sin is forgotten, as if it never happened.
What a great deal. The only thing closely comparable to this level of amnesia in my life is when Jennifer asks me to do the dishes. You want to talk about a spiritual level of forgetting something, man that's it.
We no longer have to fear the sin-burden that was killing us. "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you...when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you" (Isaiah 43:1-2). Some of you (you know who you are), will read Isaiah and say, "but he was addressing Israel," and you are right, he was, but take heart! Our Lord is the Lord of a new covenant, and to us he declared, "I will remember their sins and their lawlessness no more" (Heb 10:17).
Christ, the Lord and Creator, was the only sacrifice that could lift the burden of sin. Hebrews 10:14 says, "For by a single offering, He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." When you and I trust Jesus as our Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, then we are among those who are being sanctified. The natural response to a person who has blessed you is gratitude. So naturally, the same is true for us with respect to Christ, we understand the true meaning of blessing because of the Lordship of Christ.
For the believer, there is only one right response to Christ's blessing: obedience. Christ did not save us for our sake; He saved us for His sake (Is 23:25). We use the terms, "bought us with His blood," and "paid our debts," etc. So when Isaiah 43 says, "you are mine," do you know what it means? We are His. We literally are His possession (Ex 19:5).
That puts a different spin on it. As a response to grace we should want to obey Jesus, but as His possession He should expect us to obey. My kids belong to me, and yes I love them and am generous with them, but I also expect them to do what I say. Sometimes they surprise me and bless me with obedience because they want to please me, but even if they don't I still expect obedience. As we are His possession, Christ should expect the same of us.
As I conclude I want you to meditate on obedience as a response to grace. Hebrews 10:25-30 says, "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins”..."The Lord will judge his people”…”It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The ellipsis (...) in this paragraph should give believers pause.
Remember, as a believer your permanent record is expunged. The days of choosing sin and death are in the past. Just as Jesus was faithful to forgive and forget our sin, He should rightfully expect our obedience. How strange to Jesus that His precious ones, bought with His blood, would choose sin over obedience.
These stern words are not meant to scare you to the straight and narrow, but if they do, great. Just as God knows that we are incapable of saving ourselves, He knows we are incapable of even obeying Him. Like salvation, God has also made possible our obedience.
Join me for one last blog about 'giving up' because I have good news, by faith, Christ has transformed the lives of believers throughout history. Our works are worthless to God. Our faith in His finished work is a precious thing to Him. Here comes the real New Year's resolution: in 2015, I want to yield my life in faith to the Lordship of Christ.
Read Hebrews chapter 11 and you will understand what I mean.
