I’m sure that title got your attention, so let me finish the statement. Many people today are getting further revelation into the mysteries of God and have had to say – “God you are not anything like I thought you would be”. This statement will never be truer than when we all stand before Him. You see, God is not anything, but He is everything. Jesse Duplantis says it this way. “God is not enough, He’s too much.”
There are many people who have been Christians for years and still have not discovered who God truly is and His unending grace and love for us. They have not discovered that they are under no obligation to God whatsoever for all that He has done. God loved us all so much, He sent His son to Calvary. Calvary was the full expression of God’s love and it was written in red with no strings attached.
When did that happen? Scripture tells us that Christ was sent to Calvary and died for us while we were yet sinners. Not when we got all cleaned up. Not when we had fully repented from our wicked ways. Not when we had completed Sunday or Wednesday night services. But, while we were yet sinners. That’s how God demonstrated His love for us. If you have any doubts about God’s love for you, simply look at the cross and what Jesus completed thereon.
If you don’t remember anything else, remember this. The Kingdom of God always points to the cross and the finished work of Jesus Christ. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:2 – “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. Then in 1 Corinthians 1:23 – “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;”
Paul and the other Apostles knew how important the finished work of the cross truly was, so they never preached about Jesus or about the cross only. They preached Jesus and Him crucified. They preached the Kingdom. In Romans 1 we see that Paul declares himself to be a slave to Christ, called to be an Apostle and preach the good news of the kingdom. Kingdom preaching is God’s great grace as a result of what Jesus did at Calvary.
Okay, so this is all good stuff, but what’s the point. The point is that because of the finished work at Calvary, and because of God’s great mercy and grace, we are no longer bound by sin. Religion has taught many that sin is the problem, but that’s not truth. The problem is unbelief.
Many believe that they have to ask God for forgiveness of sin over and over, but to the Christian, God is no longer forgiving their sin. The reason? He already has, once and for all time (Hebrews 10:12; 7:27; 9:7; 10:10). Now that should suffice, but still there are those who have wrong believing concerning sin, so here are some more truth scriptures regarding sin.
Romans 6:6,7.
6. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.
7. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.
Romans 6:10,11,14,18. There are numerous other verses throughout Paul’s writings, but I will let you search those out. Getting back to forgiveness of sin. People have the wrong belief that adultery, murder, lewdness, fornication, swearing, hatred, violence, cheating, lying, and other such actions are sin. No they are not. They are the result of sin. The true sin is unbelief.
If you remember, scripture states that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Not because they were thieves, robbers, liars, fornicators etc. don’t forget that God is more interested in correcting your wrong believing or unbelief than He is correcting your poor behavior. Once you get your thinking right and see yourself as God sees you, your performance will correct itself.
Now right here I can already hear the “ya buts” and “are you crazy” statements from people. How dare I say that God isn’t interested in our poor behavior. That’s not what I said. I said He’s more interested in your wrong believing than He is your poor behavior. Why do you think He died for you while you were yet a sinner? Because He knew that your wrong thinking would not allow your poor behavior to be corrected.
“Well brother Mark, prove that to me in scripture.” Well brother/sister so and so, I have in many of my past teachings, but here I go again. Abraham was a murderer and a polytheist, but because he believed God, God accounted it to him as righteousness. So he had poor behavior but right believing. Moses was a murderer, yet God used Him to deliver His people. Poor behavior but right believing. David was an adulterer and a murderer. Yet God calls Jesus the son of David. David’s name is the first human name in the new testament in the book of Matthew and the last human name in the book of Revelation. Poor behavior but right believing. Rahab was a harlot, but she is in the lineage of Jesus Christ.
Want me to go on. Okay, new testament. Peter was a foul mouthed fisherman who denied Christ three times yet God used him to preach a sermon where 3,000 people got saved. Then he preached a second sermon and 5,000 more got saved. The prodigal son who left his father’s house and went and lived a life of immorality. The father brought him back into the house and restored everything to him. The woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus did not condemn her, but instead granted her the gift of grace and righteousness. Paul the Apostle who wrote 13, maybe 14 books of the new testament. He was the killer of Christians and yet God saw the brilliance in his life and set up a grace encounter with Saul on the road to Damascus. They had poor behavior, but right believing. If you are still questioning that statement, then you just don’t want to repent from your wrong believing.
Now that's a good place to stop for now so you can chew on the Truth so far provided to you. Part 2 will continue to bring the Truth of scripture that is so often misrepresented by religion and legalism. Grace and Peace.
