Jesus is the answer

Obituaries
One of the challenges for most believers is that they will not let the Bible get in the way of their theology, tradition or religion.

One of the challenges for most believers is that they will not let the Bible get in the way of their theology, tradition or religion.

Religious traditions and widely accepted teachings have become the basis of our beliefs rather than the Bible.

Consequently, our relationship with Christ is profiting us very little or at the very least, less than God intended.

We have people who have accepted Jesus as their Saviour.

Yet they can’t get healed, they are unhappy, depressed, fearful and full of unbelief. That should never be the case.

We need to allow the Word of God to get right into the middle of our theology.

I will start by making a very radical statement.

“If you are conscious of sin, then you truly don’t understand the grace of your salvation through Jesus.”

I know this sounds radical however it is the truth.

This is totally different from the way most of us think.

I also used to struggle with the same thing.

It is different from what most of us have been told.

But this is what God’s Word declares.

God is not imputing or laying to our account, our sin.

Second Corinthians 5:19 states “That God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation”.

It is very sad that we have been exposed to sin consciousness to such an extent that we have pushed the grace of God away.

Our preachers focus mainly on the message of sin and their messages are usually very intimidating.

They believe that through this intimidation they will be able to make people turn to God. This is contrary to the Word of God.

It is not intimidation that turns people to God.

Instead, it is the “goodness of God that leads man to repentance.” (Romans 2:4).

It is about the grace of God.

Your employer doesn’t hire you by grace and promise to pay no matter what you do, They have expectations of performance.

In marriage, spouses don’t always love each other unconditionally.

Even in most Christian families, children are either rewarded or punished based on their performance.

On this earth, almost everything is based on performance and because it is, it always forces us to focus on our weaknesses.

This performance mentality unfortunately transfers into religion where we are taught to focus on our sin.

However, as far as God is concerned, it is exactly the opposite.

The reality is that sin, isn’t even an issue with God.

I know some of you as you read this sentence, it is creating a wrinkle in your brain.

Why do I say sin is no longer an issue anymore?

It is because our sin is not being imputed or charged to our account.

It’s being charged to Jesus’ account, and He has already paid the bill.

There are many churches that would definitely throw me out for saying this.

However, that is what the Bible teaches.

I would rather listen to God than man.

It is my prayer that if you haven’t yet had this revelation, God will open your eyes to this truth.

Let’s go to the book of Hebrews and see how it deals with this subject of sin.

Hebrews 9:11-12 says “But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption for us”.

Let’s go through these verses again. Jesus entered in once which means He doesn’t do it over and over again.

Whenever you sin, the Lord doesn’t have to wait until you repent and then get that sin under the blood.

Most Christians believe that when you are born again, you get your sins forgiven up to that point.

Then every time you sin after becoming a Christian, you have got to run to the Lord with that sin and confess and repent or you will “backslide” and you are on your way to hell.

Or God will not fellowship with you and He certainly will not answer your prayers.”

If that were true, then everybody would be on their way to hell.

There isn’t a person on this earth who doesn’t have either a known or unknown unconfessed sin.

If sin just means the loss of relationship with God and unanswered prayers then God wouldn’t have a single person qualified to receive an answer to prayer or fellowship with Him.

Hebrews 9:13-15 goes on to say “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve God?

And for this reason, He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

It is not God who is condemning us when we sin, it is our own consciences.

We haven’t purged our consciences with the truth of what Jesus has done with sin.

Satan knows that and is using it to condemn us and destroy our faith and confidence in God by reminding us we don’t deserve God’s blessing.

Praise God, He isn’t giving you what you deserve, He is giving you what Jesus deserves.

Jesus paid for sin one time, past present and even the sins you will commit in the future.

How can that be? You may ask.

The fact is that Jesus only died one time for our sins two thousand years ago, so you better hope He can forgive your sins before you commit them.

God knows the end from the beginning and He knew all the sins of the whole world.

Jesus paid for all those committed before His sacrifice and for all that had not yet been committed.

He made the payment once and it will never be made again.

The price for sin, all sin has been paid. Praise God!

We have received an eternal inheritance (Hebrews: 9:15) that cannot be taken away.

Your inheritance is not temporary, its eternal.

You aren’t disinherited and you don’t lose the benefits of being part of the family because of sin.

To understand this, you have to see yourself the way God sees you.

In your born again spirit, you are as clean and as holy and pure as Jesus is (1 John 4:17).

Religion forces you to look at your flesh, and has you searching your soulish realm of thoughts, attitudes and feelings.

But that is not what God is looking at.

He is looking at your spirit, the part of you that’s become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What part of you is new?

It is not the flesh and it is not the soul, it is your born again spirit.

When you go to God in prayer and say “O God, I am so ungodly and so unworthy, please forgive me, please answer my prayer”, you are not in the spirit, you are in the flesh.

Your spirit is righteous, holy and pure. Sin does not affect your spirit.

Does this mean that sin is okay? Absolutely not.

When you sin, you give Satan an open door to the soul, your mind and emotions, as well as the opportunity to destroy your physical body.

It’s just stupid to open yourself up to the devil.

l Dr Doug Mamvura is a graduate of Charis Bible School. Feedback: [email protected] or Twitter @dougmamvura