Imagine for a moment that you had never done anything to feel guilty about. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? What if any and every wrong thing you’ve ever done had never happened? Would that empower you to live more boldly and confidently that God’s plan is to bless you in all you do? Could you move forward in pursuing God’s will with boldness then?
Grace brings news to you that seems almost too good to be true. It’s this – your sins have been removed as if they never happened. They are gone and forgotten by God. When God looks at you, He sees you as if you have never sinned. Does that seem too good to be true? “How could that be?” you might ask.
The answer is that it is possible because of what Jesus did when He came the first time. He dealt a deathblow to sin that didn’t simply defeat it; the blow against sin through the cross annihilated sin in your life. There is not even a trace of it left now.
Many of the prophets in the Old Testament predicted that a Messiah would come who would deal with sin, once and for all. Daniel spoke about Him and said that Christ would “make an end of sin” (Daniel 9:24). If you look that phrase up online in a Hebrew lexicon (that tells the meaning of the original words), you will discover that it means “to destroy or finish.” Jesus didn’t just come to forgive your sins. He came to obliterate them.
When He showed up at the Jordon River, John the Baptist said about Jesus, “Look! It’s the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world!” (See John 1:29) What did John say Jesus came to do? Forgive your sins? No, He does that, but it’s even better than that. He came to take them away completely.
When Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished!” that’s exactly what He meant. Your sins were forever thrown away (see Hebrews 9:24) behind the back of God (see Isaiah 38:17), wiped out (see Isaiah 44:22), forgotten (see Jeremiah 31:34) and will never be mentioned again (see Hebrews 9:28)!
There is absolutely nothing now that would stand in the way to keep God from leading you into the realization of the wonderful plan that He has for your life. . Read the verses I’ve mentioned in the paragraph above and ask yourself, “Are they true?” Did Christ really put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself as Hebrews 9:24 says? If He came to take away our sins, did He succeed or did He fail? Which was it? If He succeeded and our sins are really gone, then why are we holding on to a guilty conscience?
It is important for you to fully believe the truth that God has no grudge against you about your past that would keep Him from blessing you. Your past is forgiven. You are totally bless-able because your life is Christ, the One about whom the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”
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