If you have just been retrenched and you need a new job,
what is your response? If you grumble, cry and beg God to bless you with a new job, you are crucifying Christ again.
Let me explain. In both cases, you are saying that Jesus’
work is not complete. You are saying that His blood did not really take away all your sins. You are saying that His death on the cross is not good enough for God to release the fullness of His blessings on you. In essence, you are saying that He needs to be crucified again to finish what He didn’t finish!
No, far from it! Jesus died to sin once for all and that one death more than satisfied God! Today, God is so pleased with what His Son has done that He is more willing to bless you than you are willing to be blessed!
Some of you may still have questions like, “Pastor Prince, I believe God wants to bless me, but He can’t because I have some unconfessed and unforgiven sins.” Unfortunately, many Christians today are still so sin-conscious, instead of Son-conscious, that they miss out on so many of God’s blessings.
Let me now address this issue of the forgiveness of sins. In the Old Testament, the children of Israel had to make repeated offerings for sins year after year because the blood of bulls and goats just could not give them eternal redemption and everlasting righteousness. (Hebrews 10:1–4) But Jesus by His own blood has obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12) His blood has made us righteous forever because His blood is ever efficacious.
If man offers the sin offering, it is never enough. But if God offers the sin offering — if God offers Himself — will He
provide something that is temporal and which tomorrow must be offered again? If, even after Jesus has offered His blood, we still have to resort to “repeated offerings” by begging for forgiveness, beating ourselves or doing good works every time we sin, we are actually putting the blood of God’s Son on the same level as the blood of bulls and goats! And we are also saying that Christ the Rock needs to be struck repeatedly for our sins!
What I find ironic is this: In the Old Testament, the Israelites had their sins covered for one year. Yet, we in the New Testament seem to have it worse. Today, one Christian denomination believes that their sins are covered for one week until their next confession! Another denomination believes that their sins are covered for one day — they confess every sin they can remember every night before they sleep! And can you believe that some Christians act like Jesus’ blood cannot even cover their sins for one day? In the morning, they believe that they are forgiven. In the afternoon, they believe that they have lost that forgiveness and their righteousness because somewhere along the way they blew it. So they beg God for forgiveness and ask Him to make them righteous again!
Listen to me, my friend, there is no such thing as a forgiven and righteous-in-the-morning, unforgiven and unrighteous-in-the-afternoon Christian! There is no such doctrine in the Bible!
Instead, what the Bible does tell us is that ALL our sins have been forgiven because of Jesus’ one sacrifice at the cross.
(Colossians 2:13) So your forgiveness is based on His perfect, finished work. It is not contingent upon your confessions of
sins.
Just think about this for a minute. If the forgiveness of your sins depended on your confessing your sins, you would have to have perfect awareness, perfect memory and perfect confession of every sin you have ever committed in order to be sure that you are forgiven. If that were the case, no person — man, woman or even pastor — would ever be completely forgiven because no human being can confess ALL his sins perfectly. Thank God that is not how we are forgiven! No, my friend, the forgiveness of our sins is not dependent on our works. It is dependent on Jesus’ perfect and finished work!
So do I confess my mistakes or sins? Absolutely. But here’s the difference: I go to my Father and I am honest with Him because I know that He loves me and has already forgiven me.
I don’t do it in order to be forgiven.
So rest easy, my friend. If you are a Christian, you are a forgiven person, a righteous person. You cannot be a Christian and be unforgiven and unrighteous. The only unforgiven and unrighteous people on earth are those who have not availed themselves of the forgiveness in Christ. Once you are in Christ, you are in forgiveness, you are in righteousness!
How Should We Speak To The Rock?
God doesn’t want you to be sin-conscious anymore. He doesn’t want you to keep confessing your sins as though His Son didn’t completely remove them. He doesn’t want you to
keep reminding Him of your sins — those same sins He has already forgotten. (Hebrews 8:12, 10:17)
You are no longer under the old covenant priesthood of repeated offerings that can never take away sins. You are now under the high priesthood of Jesus, the one who has offered one sacrifice for sins forever.
So when you are faced with a problem, what should your response be? Just speak to the Rock. You don’t have to strike the Rock like Moses did in disobedience.
What do I mean by “strike the Rock”? Well, some people strike the Rock by saying, “Oh, Jesus, can You forgive this sin I’ve committed? Oh, Jesus, please come and show me a sign!
Let me know that You’ll forgive me!” Others strike Him by begging Him for help: “Oh, my God, have mercy on me! I’ll do whatever You say! Just help me, please!” That is not speaking to the Rock. That is striking the Rock.