When God looks at us, does He see that sin that we just committed? Does He see how we just blew it? I don't think so. Jesus took away our sins and gave us His righteousness. Thus, God doesn't see any sin in us but instead sees the perfect righteousness of His Son in us at all times. Christ presents us to God as His spotless Bride, blameless and without fault!
It's pretty incredible that God doesn't see my sin, especially after a big "flesh-out." Yet that is what the cross is all about, so I just seek to wrap my puny mind around it! The Lamb of God took away the sins of the world and canceled the writing that was against us (the law that was saying what commands we'd broken, condemning us). He forgave us ALL our sins, it says in Col. 2 - ALL our sins, past, present and future were put onto Christ and forgiven, for God was in Christ, reconciling (restoring to favor) the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them. That's forgiveness, to me - you don't hold or count the person's wrong against them, they are not in debt to you, they are released or remitted. By the shedding of His blood, our sins have been remitted.
It's pretty incredible that God doesn't see my sin, especially after a big "flesh-out." Yet that is what the cross is all about, so I just seek to wrap my puny mind around it! The Lamb of God took away the sins of the world and canceled the writing that was against us (the law that was saying what commands we'd broken, condemning us). He forgave us ALL our sins, it says in Col. 2 - ALL our sins, past, present and future were put onto Christ and forgiven, for God was in Christ, reconciling (restoring to favor) the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them. That's forgiveness, to me - you don't hold or count the person's wrong against them, they are not in debt to you, they are released or remitted. By the shedding of His blood, our sins have been remitted.
I heard one grace preacher, Rob Rufus, say that when he sins, he says something like, "God I thank You that Christ already took that sin away and I thank You that I am still the righteousness of God in Christ and still in Your favor." Even after we've just sinned, we're still the righteousness of God and still in fellowship with Him. The wages of sin is death, and Jesus already took our death, so now we have eternal unbroken fellowship with God. Yes! Our fellowship with God is based on Christ's performance on the cross to forgive us and set us right with God, and that doesn't depend on our changing behavior. It depends on Christ alone, and can only be altered if Christ Himself were to sin - NOT going to happen!
The good news of the gospel means that we are always right with God with HIS very righteousness, no matter whether we sin today or don't. Our behavior doesn't change it! So I guess that means when I sin, it changes NOTHING in my relationship with God..whew, I really want to believe that and struggle to believe it when I've just bombed, but it's the gospel truth! HE became sin, and we became the righteousness of God in Him. Sin is gone, dead and buried, and His righteousness is here to stay in us. We lost the sin and gained the righteousness (being right with God, in acceptable relationship with Him). God is finished dealing with our sin problem; sin isn't on His mind, Jesus is, and us in Him. Even the sin we commit tomorrow is already gone in God's eyes, because He already took care of it outside of time on the cross. By one sacrifice Jesus perfected us for all time, forever. I may feel dirty and stained when I sin, but God says I'm clean and spotless! Righteous and a saint! Pure and holy! For that is what He made me - the new creation was created in righteousness and true holiness. And that's what we are! Oh yes, the good news is that good!
I love the gospel and I love Jesus who took my sin! He is sin-free and perfect, and as He is, so are we in this world! So we are sin-free and perfect before God too! I guess if we want to confess something after we sin, we can confess that we are the righteousness of God in Christ all the time! Hallelujah!
With love from
