Did Jesus really take away sins for all time? Was the blood He shed enough to complete what was necessary for eternal redemption or do you need to work at adding something to what He has done? How can you be sure your efforts of "doing" will bring justification without judgement?
Many church goers have struggled with thinking the gospel revolves around right doing while going through life being needlessly worried about whether they are truly forgiven and in right standing with God. It's tricky because even the most aggressive of legalists can bait the top of the eye-pleasing dessert with some grace-like sugar sprinkled over a religious hook underneath.
When it comes to us and our good or bad actions within the eternal life package, how much "doing" will be enough? How does that mesh with the blood of Jesus from the perspective of a new and better covenant? The good news is ... God's grace has no limitations.
On a number of occasions, the Bible refers to "holding fast to our confession." Notice the confession is singular, not plural. Some might think this has something to do with continuous confessions of sins. But we know our sins were forgiven, taken away, no longer counted against us, and remembered no more by God. The Apostle Paul never once suggested confessing sins to receive a renewed forgiveness from God.
So what were the writers really talking about along these lines after Jesus would have established the New Covenant? Let's take a closer look at why some were encouraged to hold firmly to a good confession of hope ... a confession of Jesus Christ and the gospel.
We take a closer look at not "what" the writer was referencing ... but "who" they were highlighting in this passage and throughout the letter.
When a single Bible verse is taken out of context and becomes completely misunderstood, it will often result in a ripple effect which will lead to more misunderstandings, which can lead us away from a better understanding of the truth as it relates to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're following up from our previous program regarding the repeated confession of sins ... and how this false assumption leads to another one you may have heard or been taught.
A common church doctrine or teaching is that unconfessed sins are defined as unforgiven sins, which will hinder your "fellowship" with God. But is this what the Bible really says for us who are in Christ, inside of a new and better covenant? The answer is no. No matter how far off the trail that a works-based religion will try to take people, the true gospel is always good news.
It's our first program on the topic of false assumptions, regarding many traditional mindsets related to the Bible, Jesus, the gospel, etc. An overwhelming assumption taught by many church organizations is the need to confess sins to God in order to seek a renewed forgiveness. The idea pretty much revolves around one single, solitary Bible verse taken out of a much larger context, and then making a doctrine out of it. We'll bring "the verse" into a framework so it matches with the rest of Scripture as it relates to the New Covenant and also to whom John was speaking to in the first chapter of his first epistle.
In the Old Covenant, a temporary forgiveness came by repeatedly confessing sins onto sacrificial animals as their blood was shed, but it could never take away the sins of the people. God's eternal forgiveness came through blood through the Lamb of God—Jesus—and it only needed to be shed once for all. Continuously trying to keep up with every wrong thought or action is a heavy burden that will never deliver people from a consciousness of sin ... and yet, this is why Jesus came ... to free people into a realization of His gift of righteousness.
The "confessions" (plural) are not meant to be about your sorrow and trying to do something over and over in order to get right with God. That would be a place of hopelessness and failure. As is typically the case, the "confession" comes back to the One that is often overlooked when staring too long at the theology tree. It's simply meant to be an acknowledgement of the Person of Jesus.
This is our 3rd and final program reflecting on our 17 years of doing the Growing in Grace podcast ... and some of the primary subjects that have dominated our conversations. Much of what we talk about will be the opposite of what people hear throughout most church buildings. Just one example: In the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, you are never asked to give your life to Him. He came to give His life to you! Turning certain traditional mindsets inside out will help people begin to understand a more complete truth of the gospel.
Joel interviews Mike about his new book now available on Amazon Kindle. It's like a Growing in Grace podcast in written form! The target audience is for anyone who has had exposure to Christian churches or doctrines, but may struggle with wondering where they stand with God. It's for those who wonder if God can really forgive them and whether they have truly been accepted. It will help to bring a greater understanding of what the finished work of Jesus Christ provided for them, and the book will help remove some of the confusion associated with many common teachings that have mistakenly jumbled the old and new covenants together. The book addresses issues such as why the old commandments and rules will never work; the ministry of Jesus and why He taught things that weren't always meant for future believers; sin confession; repentance and other hot-button topics that have caused many to live in religious bondage.
If you do not have a Kindle device, no problem, simply download the Kindle app for free to your smart phone, tablet or computer and then purchase through Amazon.
Continuing our series about the misunderstood Bible verse of 1 John 1:9, we take a look at this specific verse as we consider the context leading up to it. John was writing to people who denied Jesus came in the flesh, that they had ever sinned, and that sin didn’t even exist. He couldn’t have been addressing Christians in this first chapter, who would’ve previously admitted a sin problem and the need for a savior. We find what John addressed actually syncs with something the Apostle Paul wrote on the subject of confession. Not the confession of individual sins in order to acquire a renewed forgiveness over and over, but a confession of Jesus Christ as Lord. We also find John comes back to the subject of confession later in his book and it brings further clarification.
A common doctrine found in Christianity is that of confessing sins in order to receive a renewed forgiveness from God. Interestingly, the Apostle Paul, who wrote more books in the New Testament than anyone, never once instructed us to confess our sins in order to be forgiven. Considering previous scriptures we’ve covered which declare we’re already forgiven in Christ, where does this concept come from? It basically revolves around one verse in the entire Bible. This week, we look at the context leading up to that verse, who John was speaking to, and what his message was really meant to communicate.
Under the Old Covenant, Israel was constantly reminded of sins through the repeated offering of animal sacrifices, which resulted in a guilty conscience. Under the existing New Covenant, God declared long ago that He would be merciful to our iniquities and He would remember sins no more. Yet religion has made it a point to pull a single verse from the Bible out of context by advocating that sins need to be confessed in order to be forgiven (again). What’s wrong with this picture? That’s our discussion on this week’s program.
Forgiveness from God has nothing to do with whether you confess all of your sins or because a pastor or priest declared it to be so; it is because of the blood of Jesus that has already been shed, once for all. Christian religionists have hammered a single verse from the Bible to imply you must confess every wrongdoing in order to be forgiven and cleansed. This week, we’ll quickly run through a list of passages showing the assurance we have already acquired when it comes to God’s forgiveness.
