Eph1:7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. NLT
FORGIVEN FREELY WITHOUT WORKS
I watched the video of a Hindu festival titled "Khumbh Mela". The video is a documentary of the largest religious festival in the world that attracts about 80 million worshippers in a single week. People come from all over India to a river called "Ganges" for cleansing. In that festival, in the video i watched, there were about 23,000 officiating priests who poured water on people. The ritual involve pouring ashes on the head and washing in the river. Why are they doing all these? They're seeking for forgiveness. Even after doing all these things, they are not sure if they're forgiven. They keep coming every year because they are guilt ridden and never sure they're forgiven.
Hallelujah!!! Our case is different. We have received of the Lord full pardon for our sins: "Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered",Romans4:7. You don't need to beat yourself because of sins that GOD has forgiven and put out of his record. Isaiah 43:25 says: "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more". Hallelujah!!! He won't remember my sins any more for his own sake. The day you came to Christ, your slate(of sin) was wiped clean: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new", 2 Cor 5:17 KJV.
Forgiveness is the work of grace lavished on us because of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross of calvary not because of your effort. Fanny Crosby wrote in her popular hymn 'To God Be The Glory' saying, "O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God; The vilest offender who truly believes,That moment from Jesus a pardon receives".
When you preach to sinners, your duty is to point them to the atoning work of Christ on the cross and encourage them to believe in it. Righting all wrongs before salvation is not the way to earn salvation. If we embark on that, we'll not meet up. When a man comes to the cross just as he is, with a single and believing heart focused on Jesus, he'll not return until he receives full pardon and the gift of salvation that comes by faith. Salvation comes by believing in Jesus: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT PERISH but have eternal life. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son", John 3:16, 18 NLT.
Anytime you try to do "things" aside believing in what Christ has done on the cross, you're clearly in the wrong. It doesn't matter how pious what people do to earn forgiveness may sound, as long as it is opposed to faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross, it is not acceptable by God.
CONFESSION: Father, I thank you for lavishing your grace upon me. I am forgiven not because of works but by your grace. I am redeemed and free from guilt of wrongs in my past. My slate is wiped clean and I'm a new man. Hallelujah!!!
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