GOD FORGIVES THE PENITENT

GOD FORGIVES THE PENITENT

                Until we come to fully realize that according to the Law, we are absolutely worthy of eternal death and separation from God and the hellfire that was intended only for Satan and his fallen angels; we will not fully experience gratefulness and deeply heartfelt worship.

                Until we understand that the Law writes all men under sin and that there is no means of escape, no way to reclaim what we have lost and nothing we can do including keeping the Law that will restore us to salvation… then we begin to understand the significance of Jesus’ death in our place.

                A long as we think that we can achieve any sort of merit by keeping the Law, or having the gift of prophecy or having faith so as to move mountains, or to feed the poor or to have our bodies burned, or to speak with the tongues of men and of angels… as long as we think that there is anything we can do to contribute to saving ourselves… we will be diminishing the infinite sacrifice that Jesus gave to redeem us from an infinite hell.

                This is why the Gospel consists of Jesus, His life, His death, His resurrection and His High Priesthood plus nothing. It is not Jesus plus tongues.  (Tongues is a gift of the Spirit and not a work of the flesh) It is not Jesus plus the Law. It is not Jesus plus the Sabbath, or Jesus plus baptism, or church doctrine or anything else we might add to the Gospel.

                Paul said, “For I have determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Cor. 2:2

                Paul’s entire book of Galatians was written to the Christians at Galatia to combat the Judaizers that had come into town trying to impose Old Testament laws and Sabbaths and feast days and circumcision upon New Testament Christians and that is when Paul stood up and said “NO!  ”You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit are you now being perfected in the flesh?

                Paul went on to explain the temporary nature of the Law, how it was added because of transgression, but only until the seed had come to whom the original promises of God to Abraham would come. Jesus Christ is that one Seed. When we receive Him we receive it all.

                God did not change his mind when He offered us a New Covenant. The New Covenant has always been His plan. The Old Covenant was given in types and shadows and laws that would serve to let us know what the New Covenant would be. It pointed to and identified the true Lamb of God and when that true Lamb came the Law had finished its work for all who came to the cross and received Jesus’ death in our place. The Law can only lead us to the foot of the Cross and once it has done that its work is finished.

                Only one Person in all of history has perfectly kept the Law. So we are not saved by our attempts to keep the Law but we are saved by His perfect life… His perfect fulfillment of the Law on our behalf. Romans 5: 10 says:

                “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, WE SHALL BE SAVED BY HIS LIFE.”

                Do we get this? What it tells us is that as long as we live on this planet we will never have any righteousness of our own. Our only righteousness is His perfect life placed in our account.

                When were begin to understand that there is absolutely nothing we can do to redeem ourselves or even to please God (without faith it is impossible to please God.  Heb. 11:6) then we begin to gain a new perspective on what true repentance and penitence is. It is a matter of coming to God with nothing to offer Him, nothing to recommend us to Him… nothing in our account to offer Him save the perfect life, death and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf.

                And so false religions from the first century of Galatia until now have been trying to add the Law back into the New Covenant… trying to borrow something from the Old Covenant with which we might merit God’s favor… all the while not realizing that they are literally slapping Jesus in the face… telling Him that His covenant in His blood is not enough… that His Holy Spirit is not enough to conform us to the image of Christ and that we must add something to it by keeping the Law and observing new moons and Sabbaths and festivals and such. Do we really understand what we are doing?

                Paul says that through the Law we must die to the Law in order to live unto God. Gal. 2:19.

                When we are dead, how much of the Law can we respond to? So if we die to the Law; that means that it has absolutely no part in the New Covenant that Jesus Brought to us, which also means that the New Covenant must be adequate to the task of our salvation and in fact infinitely superior to the Old Covenant.

                When we look at what is happening in the world today we suddenly realize that the Judaizers are at it again and that much of the church is falling for it… going back to Judaism… falling back to the Law… to the works of Roman Catholicism… falling, falling away from the Gospel once offered to the saints to embrace a religion of works… and it is this that the antichrist will offer us, because works seem so good. Works are the one thing that can deceive if possible even the very elect. It is not sin that will cause them to fall, but self-righteousness… something added to the life, death, resurrection and High Priesthood of Jesus Christ… something we can do to earn our way.

                And so David, speaking under the anointing of the Holy Spirit prays the kind of prayer that the truly penitent must pray:

                “Have mercy upon Me O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51:1-2

                Perhaps we should learn the whole of Psalm 51 by heart and pray that prayer to the only One that is able to answer it. Jesus Christ our High Priest.