Over the past few years I have been noticing a trend among many
Christians and that is they have very little understanding of the
sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. Today’s Christian has been dumbed down
to the reality of what had happened on Calvary. This is why so many
Christians believe they can lose their salvation, or believe in a
partial atonement or believe they must add works to maintain their
salvation. I have also received e-mails from a person who claims that
God forgives all manner of sin such as murderers, but will never forgive
the sin of remarriage after divorce. After sending this person the
verses which we are going to look at, he rejected them and just sent me
an e-mail that I am teaching a false gospel. I had responded to him and
asked him what would be his solution to that dilemma? Should remarried
Christians get a second divorce in order to satisfy his belief? No
response to that question. See my article on marriage and divorce at:
www.scionofzion.com/divremar.htm
Now it is true that the Bible
does state specifically that if anybody marries after divorce and their
spouse or the spouse of the one they are marrying are still alive, then
they are entering into an adulterous marriage. We expect unbelievers not
to care about being obedient to the Bible, but when Christians are shown
that it is sin and then they proceed anyway, they will come under the
chastisement of God and it will not be pleasant. The majority of
churches are spiritually neutered and have dropped biblical obedience
and have taken up the writings of men such as apostate Rick Warren and
these plans or systems have replaced biblical teachings in many
churches. This is why the understanding of the sacrifice of Christ has
been placed at the bottom of the pile because self-esteem and other
self-adulating studies have supplanted it.
Now it must be understood that receiving the grace of God in
salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ in no way means a person has a
license to sin. That accusation comes to us from those who believe in
free will and those who believe they can lose their salvation. In their
minds they are attempting to live a holy life to maintain their
salvation but the reality is that we live a holy life because of the
grace of God. To attempt to live a holy life for the purpose of
maintaining salvation amounts to nothing more than a works gospel. Those
who think they can add to what Christ did on Calvary must really check
to see if they have been truly saved. The sacrifice of Christ was
totally sufficient for every true believer.
Calvary and Your Sin
When the Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary and you became saved,
what transpired concerning your sin?
The answer to this question is one which every Christian should
know. (1 Pet 3:15 KJV) But sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give
an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in
you with meekness and fear: Part of the hope
that is with in us from becoming saved is to know what the relationship
is to my sins. If I believe that I can lose my salvation or that Christ
only partially paid for my sins and then the rest are up to me to atone
for, then I will walk around as those who proclaim that they are just a
“sinner saved by grace.” If we still believe that we are nothing but
saved sinners, then we have totally misunderstood the sacrifice of
Christ. When we become saved, we go from sinner to Saint! Now we will
see what the Bible teaches concerning your sins after salvation.
Old Testament
(Psa 103:12 KJV) As far
as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgressions from us.
The word “far hath he removed “ in the Hebrew carries with it the
meaning of “to be far or to be separate.” In the first part of this
verse the word “far” is the same word. You can see that as separate or
as far as the east is from the west, has He separated us from our sin.
This means He just did not atone for our sins which would be a covering
but the sacrifice was so complete that He removed our sins. This verse
does not indicate that He left any behind!
(Isa 43:25 KJV) I, even I, am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and
will not remember thy sins.
“Blotteth out” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “wipe
away or destroy.” In the case of written documents it carries with it
the meaning of “erase.” So this verse is also teaching us that God
Himself is the one who destroys or wipes away our sin and only the
sacrifice of the Son of God is capable to do that.
(Jer 31:34 KJV) And they shall teach no
more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the
greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
“I will forgive” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “to
forgive or pardon.” This is definitely a grace term because this is
repeated in the New Testament in the following verses:
(Heb 8:12 KJV) For I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I
remember no more.
(Heb 10:17 KJV) And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more.
Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:12, and Hebrews 10:17 all carry with them
the same theme. When God forgives a person of their sins, He has elected
to forget those sins and not only forget them, but to destroy them.
Nowhere in Scripture is it written that God chooses to remember our sins
thus causing a loss of salvation. When God removes our sins, He
annihilates them. In other words, they can never be held against us.
(Col 2:13-14 KJV) And you, being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; {14} Blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to
us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:13 (KJB)
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having
forgiven you all trespasses;
Dead - Lifeless or useless
Quickened - Made alive
Having Forgiven - Forgive, release, or pardon
All - Totally
Death is basically separation and Paul is reminding the Colossians
that they were dead in sins and that meant they were separated from God
plus they had not received the circumcision made without hands as spoken
of in verse 11. (Col 2:11 KJV) In
whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,
in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ: They were still subject to the fallen
nature which was the sin-laden nature. Then as a result of God’s
salvation, God had taken His Elect and made them alive unto Him. We were
made alive with Christ. (John 5:21
KJV) For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them;
even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. The
next part of this verse is of the utmost importance. Since Christ has
made us alive, He has forgiven us all our trespasses. This means that
every sin that any believer has committed, or will commit in the future
has already been paid for. There is not one sin which is held to the
account of any believer. Those who claim that a person can lose their
salvation have no understanding of the fact that every single sin of the
believer has been forgiven. If every sin has been forgiven, then what
could possibly keep us out of Heaven? These same folks claim that our
future sins could keep us out of Heaven. Let us ask a simple question.
Where were you when Christ went to the cross? You were not even born yet
which means ALL your sins were in the future. It also means that ALL of
those sins have been paid for and this means your soul is completely
clean, with not one blemish.
Col 2:14 (KJB)
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was
against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the
way, nailing it to his cross;
Blotting out - Wipe out or obliterate
Handwriting of ordinances - The crimes of the criminal written and
placed at the location of execution
Contrary - Against or hostile to
Out of the way - Away out of the midst or middle
Paul continues the great emancipation of the believer. Christ has
forgiven every trespass of the believer and here we are told that all
our crimes, our sins, were completely obliterated. The hand writing of
ordinances was the crime or crimes the prisoner was guilty of. The
ordinances which the believer was guilty of was the violation of the law
of God. We broke every law, even if we broke only one.
(James 2:10 KJV) For whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
So here the law became our enemy because it openly
showed us that we were guilty of breaking God’s law but when Christ went
to the cross, He had fulfilled the demands of God’s righteous law and
because we were in Christ, being baptized unto His death, we were found
not guilty of the violation of God’s law. As Col. 2:14 puts it, Christ
completely obliterated the charges against us, so never again will the
believer ever have to come into judgment for any sins. The verse further
states that Christ took those charges which were against us away from
us, out of the midst, that is, the sins no longer prevent fellowship
with God and with other Christians. It goes on further to state that He
nailed it to His cross, which means the law is totally dead to us in the
area of accusations and violations because Christ paid for every single
violation of the law that the true believer would ever commit. There
would never be even one violation of the law which could ever affect our
salvation and our purity of our souls because of Christ’s total
effectual sacrifice.
Summary
We have looked at verses both in the Old and New Testaments which
teach us plainly that every sin the believer had committed or will
commit has been paid for by Christ. They were not only paid for, but
removed and destroyed. This means the soul of the believer is as if they
never sinned. This is why Peter states in his first epistle the
following: (1 Pet 1:4 KJV) To an inheritance incorruptible, and
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
When one becomes saved, we have an inheritance in Heaven which is what?
Reserved! Why? Because at the moment of salvation our sins are removed
and we are ready for Heaven. In Heaven there is no sin and that is why
God removed all our sins so our bodies go into the grave and our souls
go to be with the Lord, because they are sinless. Those who believe they
can lose their salvation or believe in a partial atonement theory are
just not understanding what happened at Calvary. Churches need to get
back to real Bible teaching and drop all this garbage like Alpha
Courses, Beth Moore,