L.I.F.E. LESSONS
Volume One
"The Basics of L.I.F.E."
Unit I - "Salvation - It Takes Place in My Heart"
Unit Introduction
Have you ever wondered what all you "got? when you "got? saved? In the next four lessons, we will be looking closely at everything Christians receive when they receive Christ for salvation.
I once purchased a computer, took it home, set it up, and began using it to my satisfaction. But several months later a friend came to visit and sat down in front of my computer. I watched him make that computer do amazing things I never knew it could do. His instruction opened up an entire new world of computing for me. I was "hooked? immediately. I could never again be satisfied with the efficiency I had gotten out of that computer before that night. The power of the machine had been there all along, but its operation had been greatly limited by the extent of my knowledge about it.
In a much more important area of our lives we are just as limited by our lack of knowledge. When we receive Christ into our lives and He receives us unto Himself, we receive all the power we will ever need for the rest of our lives. But if we don't realize what we have, we will never operate according to that power. The purpose of the lessons in this unit is to make Christians aware of the awesome benefits they already possess so that they can experience abundance and victory in their lives every day.
Lesson One
The Gift of Salvation
The Location of Our Salvation
"9. ?that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10 (NKJV)
You may have taken it for granted that salvation occurred in your heart and the location of your salvation may not have ever seemed important to you. But it is extremely significant. The word "heart? used in this passage of Scripture doesn't refer to the actual life-pumping organ called your heart. Instead it refers to the basis of and the central core of your entire life. This use of the word "heart? denotes the center of your desires, emotions, passions, understanding, and intellect. It is in the "heart? that your relationship with God has its foundation and it is into the "heart" that God sends His Holy Spirit to dwell. (Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 3:17)
Even in the Old Testament, there was an understanding that God does not look at outward appearances; what people wear, what they look like, or even what they do (I Samuel 16:7). Instead God looks at the "heart", the very core of their being. That is what is most important to God.
There is good reason for that. God knows that a person's actions are a direct result of the condition of their heart and since all people are born with deceitful hearts (Jeremiah 17:9), their actions will never be good enough to earn a right standing with God. There is simply no reason for God to consider a person's actions in determining their standing with Him. God goes right to the source and looks at the heart.
Nothing is more important in life than having a heart that is right before God (Romans 2:5-6) since a sinful heart that results in sinful actions is judged and condemned by God. But no matter how hard a person tries, there is nothing that a person can do to attain a perfect heart that is approved by God. However, it can be obtained as a free gift from God.
"26. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." Ezekial 36:26-27 (NKJV)
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new." II Corinthians 5:17
A new and perfect heart that is acceptable in the eyes of God is the possession of every Christian as a result of God's gift of salvation. A new and perfect heart is part of the new creation that God makes of everyone who receives Christ. That new and perfect heart is the chosen and suitable dwelling place for the Holy Spirit of Christ in each believer. And out of that new and perfect heart, righteous actions can flow naturally as proof of the life of Christ that dwells within it.
Is it important that salvation occurs in our hearts? Of course it is. If salvation took place anywhere else, we would still be condemned since the heart is what God inspects. If salvation occurred in any place other than our hearts, we would never experience a change in how we live. Our actions would have no hope of being righteous if God didn't exchange our deceitful hearts for new and perfect hearts. But at the point of our salvation, God removes our hard, wicked hearts and replaces them with soft, pure hearts.
Salvation is really just a spiritual heart transplant!
The Lasting Results of Our Salvation
There is a Bible verse that is often used in evangelism to convince a person of their sin and subsequent need for salvation.
"For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 (NKJV)
That verse is completely true, but it's not really the best verse to use in evangelism. The problem with using that verse to lead someone to Christ is that it doesn't hit the real problem. Using that verse to convince someone that they are sinners in need of a Savior gives the impression that the problem is all about what a person has "done." It leads a person to believe that they have a problem and are condemned by God because they "have sinned."
But our basic problem is not what we have done. Remember that God does not look on the outward appearances. His concern is not with what we have done. God looks at the heart, the very core of who we are. Our sinful actions are the natural outflow of our sinful hearts. Our problem has existed from our birth, before we ever committed a single sinful act. Our problem is "who" we are before we come to salvation in Christ. Our sinning does not make us sinners. We sin because we ARE sinners. In the very core of our being, that's who we are before Christ comes into our lives.
If we believe that we had to be saved because of something we had "done?, then that belief sets it up for us to believe that for God to accept us, then we have to start doing the right things. And for Him to continue accepting us, we have to continue to do all the right things. Our identity in Christ won't be all that important to us. The focus of our lives will be making sure we are doing all the right things in order to please God. Do you see how believing wrongly about why we were once unacceptable to God impacts what we believe about how we stay accepted by God?
But look at the first half of Romans 5:19.
"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. Romans 5:19a (NKJV)
Because of the disobedience of Adam, we are all "MADE TO BE SINNERS." When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, it changed the very nature of every descendant that would follow in his genetic line. Everyone that was born of an earthly father since Adam inherited the sinful nature that came into Adam the moment he sinned. All humans were "made to be sinners" at that point. We were all born with an inherent sin nature; a natural bent toward sinning.
That's why it is so important for God to not only forgive our "sins" (acts), but also to change who we were. It's not just that I had done wrong. I WAS wrong.
"For the wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
Now, if we are all born sinners and if the wages of sin is death, then we were all born destined to be under a death sentence. The only thing you and I had to do to be controlled by our sin and then condemned by the law against it is to be born!! Why do you suppose Jesus told Nicodemus, "You must be BORN AGAIN?" (John 3:3)
It was because his birth had caused the problem. Therefore the only way Nicodemus could be saved from eternal death would be to be "reborn." The same is true for us. We were originally born of Adam and into sin, resulting in death. We must be "reborn" of God and into righteousness, resulting in life. *
Now, lest you think that it doesn't seem fair that the entire world would be condemned because of the disobedience of one man, let's return to the passage in Romans 5. Like condemnation came to us because of the disobedience of one man, the free gift of salvation comes to us through the obedience of one man. And the free gift of salvation has lasting effects that take us from condemnation to justification.
"15. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. 18. Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." Romans 5:15-19 (NKJV)
Those verses are some of the most beautiful verses in the Bible.
Verse 15: The disobedience of one man, Adam, resulted in condemnation for all men. But because of the obedience of one man, Jesus, we can all have eternal life. Because of Christ and His death on the cross, we can be released from the condemnation of death that we inherited from Adam.
Verses 16-18: And the result is our "JUSTIFICATION." Justification is a legal term and it describes the declaration of crediting the righteousness of Jesus to sinners who appropriate it by faith. In other words, through a judicial act of God, He removed the record of all the sins I have ever committed and even those I will commit in the future. He then replaced my record with the perfect sinless record of Jesus and put my name across the top of it! I have been JUSTIFIED and nothing that I do in the future can change that because it was a judicial act of God that accomplished it.
Verse 19: But what takes place at salvation is more than just a declaration that I am righteous. Because of Adam's disobedience and our inheritance of his sinful nature by birth into his family, we were made to be sinners. But God made a way for us to escape the just condemnation of that condition. Through our acceptance of Christ and the salvation He brings to our hearts, we are made to be righteous.
How does that happen? It's the result of another exchange. God exchanged my wicked, sinful heart for a new and perfect heart. And He also exchanged my sin for Christ's righteousness.
"For He (God) made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to BE sin for us, that we might BECOME the righteousness of God in Him." II Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
Many Christians have read that verse for years and even committed it to memory. It is often used to show how Jesus bore our sin so that we could have the righteousness of God. But read it again with the understanding that God's goal was not just to give you righteousness. It was to make you RIGHTEOUS!
Jesus didn't just "bear? my sin for me. He "became? sin in my place so that God could pour out all His wrath for my sin onto Jesus. And He did that for one reason; so that when I am in Christ, covered with the innocent Lamb of God, I could "become? the righteousness of God. I don't just "have? the righteousness of God. I have "become? the righteousness of God.
Oh what a difference that makes. It's not just a change in what you possess. It's a change in who you are. You are righteous. You are justified. Your heart is new and perfect.
The Life Changing Power of Our Salvation
"1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2. through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4. and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:1-5 (NKJV)
Verse 1: The construction of this sentence confirms that our justification is a one-time event and not an ongoing process. The work of justification has been completed in all Christians. Because of that, we have now been fully reconciled to God and therefore we are forever at perfect peace with Him.
In order to get your checkbook to reconcile with your bank statement, you must add in anything that the bank has added and take out anything that the bank has subtracted. It's the same way in reconciling our relationship with God. He has added the righteousness of Christ to us and removed the guilt of our sin from us. In so doing, He has reconciled us to Himself.
Verse 2: To the people of Paul's day, when the book of Romans was written, it was unthinkable to have direct access to God. But the most amazing thing about the power that comes with our salvation is that it opened a door for us to boldly approach God through Jesus.
And we now stand in grace. Grace is described as the unmerited favor of God bestowed upon us through Christ. The use of the word "stand" is very significant because it denotes a permanent position. Nothing can ever change our standing in Christ. And because of that secure standing, we have a hope that is as sure as our standing. We will share in the glory of God.
Verse 3-4: And in addition to our present and future hope, we also can rejoice even in the midst of everyday troubles because we know that God has a purpose for them. These verses describe a chain reaction that begins with our tribulations and results in the evidence of godly character displayed in our lives. The Greek word for character in this verse is "dokime?"and it means "convincing proof." Our trials only serve to make us stronger and to show the world that the power of God is being displayed through us as proof that His Spirit is in us.
Verse 5: God's love has been poured out into our hearts to the point that it is now gushing over the tops of our hearts. That's the picture this verse paints. Thinking back to where this lesson started, it's astounding to think that our original wicked and deceitful hearts have now been replaced with hearts that are fashioned to contain the very love of God. God has proven His love for us by remaking the very core of our beings into vessels that are suitable to become His home. God is love and love (God) now dwells within us.
God has exchanged my enmity with Himself for the perfect relationship that He has always shared with His own Son, Jesus.
Deeper Truths Contained In This L.I.F.E. Lesson
1. God has exchanged our sinful hearts for new hearts, suitable to be His dwelling place.
2. God has exchanged our sin for Christ's righteousness. He has not simply given us righteousness. He has made us to become righteous and has declared us to be justified.
3. God has exchanged my estrangement from Himself for the unity that He shares with Christ. There are no longer any barriers between God and Christians and because of our secure standing in grace, there never will be again.
* You may have questions about children who die before they are old enough to understand and accept God's gift of salvation. It is obvious from other verses of Scripture (II Samuel 11:22-23, Matthew 18:3, 10, Matthew 19:14, Matthew 21:16, Mark 10:16) that God's protection is on small children. It is not important for us to know how God accomplishes their entrance into heaven. It should be enough for us to know that He somehow does so. Small children are considered to be innocent and are covered by God's grace. Though they are also born sinners, the just punishment for that condition is no more executed in their lives than it is in the lives of Christians covered by God's grace. Romans 5:13 makes it clear that the punishment for sin is not imputed where there is no rule of law. A possible explanation for how an innocent child who dies bypasses the punishment for sin is that until a child is old enough to understand the law, he/she is not under the rule of law, therefore condemnation is not imputed by it.
Unit One - Lesson Two
"The Sufficiency Of Our Forgiveness"
Here are some questions for thought as you begin.
Is God's grace sufficient for my forgiveness or not? Does anything have to be added to what Christ accomplished on the cross? Is there something I have to do other than just accept His offer of salvation? Did Jesus truly pay it all, or is there still something I have to do? When Jesus spoke the words "It is finished? from the cross, did He really mean it?
Most of us truly believe that all of our sins are fully forgiven. If someone were to ask us what would happen if we died quickly before we got a chance to confess or ask forgiveness for a sin, our response would be based on God's grace. We would answer that we would still get into heaven because that sin is already covered by the death of Christ even though we didn't confess it or ask for forgiveness for it.
But when we get into the practicalities of day to day living, do we truly live out of the truth of God's forgiveness? Do we truly respond to sin as if we believe it is already forgiven? Do we live as if the debt for our sin is already paid in full?
This lesson is going to challenge some traditional thinking about God's forgiveness, but it will also get us to the depths of what God's Word really says about the subject.
God's Forgiveness is Far Reaching
Is there anyone who is out of the reach of God's forgiveness? Is there anything that you could ever do that would be out of the scope of God's forgiveness? Just how far reaching is God's forgiveness?
Let's look at three people from God's word who experienced God's grace gift of forgiveness.
DAVID
"1. Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3. Who forgives all your iniquities?' Psalm 103:1-3a
King David had a reason for his excited praise of God in these verses. He was jubilant over God's forgiveness of his sins. And David had much to be forgiven. You will recall that he had invited his neighbor Bathsheba over to the palace after seeing her naked on her roof. When she became pregnant after their brief affair, he arranged to have her husband, Uriah, come home from the battlefield. David's strategy must have been that Uriah would spend the night with his wife and then the baby would be presumed to be his own. But Uriah was so loyal to his king that he spent the entire night at the palace, so David had to come up with another plan. Uriah was sent to the battlefront where he was killed.
David soon realized the magnitude of his sin and he repented in sorrow. He then wrote a psalm that spoke of his thanksgiving over the restoration he experienced. In Psalm 51, it is clear that David fully recognized how horrible his sin was, but he also realized God's unlimited potential for forgiveness. David responded to that realization in Psalm 51:15.
"O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise." Psalm 51:15 (NKJV)
RAHAB
We are introduced to Rahab in the second chapter of Joshua. She was the prostitute of Jericho who provided a safe haven for the Hebrew spies. She told the spies that she had heard about the miracles of their God and she begged them to spare her family when they came in to conquer her city. She followed their instructions and her relatives were the only survivors of the Israelite conquest of Jericho.
But Rahab's story doesn't end there. After the conquest of Jericho, her life was transformed and her story is one of the greatest stories of forgiveness in the Bible. In Matthew 1:5 she is mentioned as the mother of Boaz, the Old Testament hero of the Book of Ruth. In his role there as a kinsman redeemer who purchased back the inheritance Ruth had lost, he is a foreshadowing picture of Jesus, our kinsman redeemer. Don't miss the significance of those facts. God chose Rahab, the former prostitute, to raise the man He would use to point the world to His own Son.
And the genealogy listed in the first chapter of Matthew goes on to mention other descendants of Rahab, including King David, King Solomon, and even Jesus. Right there in the family line of the old prostitute of Jericho, kings appear. In fact, the King of Kings is her descendant. What a testimony to God's grace and forgiveness.
In James 2:25, Rahab is commended for her faith that showed itself in action and in Hebrews 11:31, Rahab is listed in the roll call of Bible characters who exhibited great faith. Even Rahab was not out of the reach of God's forgiveness.
PAUL
Standing in the crowd, approving the stoning of Stephen, was a young man named Saul. He was one of the most influential and zealous persecutors of the church in his day. But as he was walking to Damascus to continue his pursuit of Christians, he encountered God and his life was changed forever. His name was changed to Paul and the former Christian killer became one of the greatest evangelists of all times.
The revelations of God in Paul's life were radical in his day and the teachings of Paul that are in the Bible still contain the most practical instructions for experiencing the power of life in Christ for Christians today. Surely, if God totally forgave a Christian killer like Paul, His forgiveness has no limits.
And just in case those examples were not enough for you, do you remember the words Jesus voiced on the cross? His cries to the Father were a request that even the people that had nailed Him to the cross could find forgiveness.
Oh yes, God's forgiveness is far reaching.
God's Forgiveness is Final
How is forgiveness received? For the Old Testament heroes of the faith, forgiveness was provided in a different way from how Christians receive it today. But the Old Testament sacrificial system pointed forward and painted a symbolic picture of the ultimate purchase of our forgiveness that Jesus would make on the cross.
The basis of the sacrificial system was that an animal that met all God's qualifications for purity would be sacrificed annually. The High Priest would follow several steps that culminated in the transfer of the sins of the people being cast onto the slain animal. The blood of the animal was required as payment for the sin of the people. (Hebrews 9:22)
The most important aspect of the sacrifice was that the innocent animal paid the ultimate price for sins that the animal didn't commit. The animal died so that the people would not have to suffer the condemnation that sin required. (Romans 6:23) This sacrifice had to be repeated year after year. (Hebrews 10:3)
But this system of annual sacrifice was discontinued when the innocent Jesus gave His life and shed His blood as payment for our sin.
"By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Hebrews 10:10 (NKJV)
In the last LIFE lesson, we established that all of mankind was tainted with sin from birth because they were born of Adam. But Jesus did not have an earthly father and therefore bypassed the inheritance of the sinful nature of man. He was born perfect and lived a perfect life. He was the perfect sacrifice to once and for all provide forgiveness for sin. And with His death, He provided a continuing, permanent position of righteousness for every Christian.
"Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin." Hebrews 10:18 (NKJV)
This verse is the confirmation that Christ's death and our acceptance of His work on the cross is enough to purchase our forgiveness forever. There is no longer an offering that has to be made for our sin. The price has been paid in full for us. Once we are forgiven, we are truly forgiven. It is FINAL. The death of Christ is SUFFICIENT. His sacrifice is ENOUGH. How could I ever think that I need to add anything to what God has already said is enough?
Remember that God is all wise. Don't you think He knew what the death of Jesus would accomplish? Do you think He would have let Jesus go through all that He endured on the cross if His death was not going to be sufficient enough to forgive you forever? It is enough!!! No matter what you've done and no matter what you will ever do.
You may have always thought that your salvation experience only took care of the forgiveness of the sins you had committed up until that point. But in fact, ALL of your sins, past, present, and future, were forgiven. How many of your sins did God see on the day He saved you? Did He just see the ones you had already committed? No, He saw every one of them that you would ever commit for the rest of your life and the death of Christ on the cross took care of ALL of them.
In fact, God saw every sin that had been or would ever be committed in all of history, and the death of Christ on the cross was enough to purchase the pardon for all of them. God saw the inherent sin nature of every person throughout history, and the sacrifice of Jesus was enough to offer victory over the sin nature in every life. Once we accept Christ as our Savior and appropriate by faith what He accomplished on the cross, it is all-encompassing and all-powerful for ALWAYS!
We cannot believe that the forgiving grace of God is sufficient if we believe that anything else is required of us now or will ever be required of us in the future! It is impossible to believe that it is finished, and believe that it is not finished at the same time!
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus?" Romans 8:1a (NKJV)
This verse states the staggering conclusion that we can draw from the truth that what Christ accomplished on the cross was enough. The word "condemnation" as it is used in this verse has only one meaning and that meaning is the polar opposite of the word "justification." In last week's lesson we defined "justification? as the legal declaration of righteousness. "Condemnation" is the legal declaration of a guilty verdict and the accompanying requirement of the penalty due.
Romans 8:1 confirms that no sin believers ever commit, - in their past, present, or future, - can ever be held against them because Jesus paid the full payment required (blood of an innocent sacrifice - Hebrews 9:22).
It all goes back to the provision of the blood. In the Exodus account of the night when the death angel passed over Egypt, the Israelite children were spared because the blood of a spotless lamb had been spread over the doorposts of their homes. God made a promise that night that He has never forgotten. He said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over."
It's not that God overlooks our sins. It's just that when He sees us, instead of seeing our sin, He sees the blood and accepts it as payment in full.
Choose to believe it right now. You have been forgiven for your sins - past, present, and future. Don't dwell on sin. Dwell on Jesus who bought your forever forgiveness.
God's Forgiveness is Fail-proof
God's forgiveness would not be sufficient if there was anything I could do to diminish it in the future. But He has safeguarded His forgiveness against my failures. When I received His forgiveness it wasn't because of my performance, and God does not base the maintenance of His forgiveness on my performance either.
These truths may have prompted questions in your mind. You may be asking, "but what about those times when I sin? Don't I have to go back then and ask forgiveness for it? Doesn't the Bible say I have to confess each sin or I will be held accountable for it?"
Well, let's look closely at the verse that most people use to teach that confession is required of Christians.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:9 (NKJV)
In interpreting Scripture, it's always important to determine to whom the writing is addressed and what was going on in the day it was written. In this passage, John was dealing with a group of people who believed that they could work their way into righteousness by doing the right things. The message of their belief system was that they could live a life without sin and therefore earn salvation. John was calling them liars and pointing out that they must confess (admit) that they are sinners, receive Christ, and then "walk? (live) in Him. Once they confessed, they would be forgiven.
John was addressing unbelievers who must confess in order to be saved. In verses 8 and 10 that surround this verse, John refers to their claims to be without sin and he calls them liars. If someone never confesses (admits) that they are sinners, then they cannot experience salvation. That's the point John is making.
But in the next chapter, John begins addressing Christians. In I John 2:12 John writes, "Your sins HAVE BEEN forgiven." Now think about this reasoning logically. If John had been addressing believers in chapter one when he was talking about the requirement of confession in order to receive forgiveness, then he would have been contradicting himself to say that their sins had already been forgiven in chapter two.
The sentence structure of I John 1:9 implies that the forgiveness that follows confession of sin as prescribed in the verse, is a one-time package deal. ALL of a person's sin is forgiven at the point of their confession.
How many times have you heard that you can come to Jesus just like you are, get saved, and from then on you have to confess your sins so that you can stay forgiven? Well, if that's true then we have a problem. Are you completely forgiven or not? Was the sacrifice of Christ enough or not?
What if you somehow miss a sin and fail to confess it? Praise God, we are already forgiven so it's not a problem. Our forgiveness is not based on whether we confess or not. If it was, then it would be based on our works - something we have to do. Our forgiveness is based entirely on the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that wasn't enough, we're in serious trouble.
For some reason, Christians have a hard time getting over the perceived need to confess or ask forgiveness and they often want to continue doing so. They often ask, "Can I continue to confess my sin and ask for forgiveness?" Sure they can, as long as they fully realize it's not a requirement for forgiveness.
Personally, I have stopped asking God to forgive me for my sins because I don't want to ever appear as if the death of Christ was not enough for my forgiveness. I often confess (agree with God that something is a sin) because if I don't agree with Him that something is a sin, then I will never turn away from it and like all sin, it will eventually destroy something beautiful in my life.
God's Forgiveness is Forever
Another question that many believers have after understanding the truth about God's forgiveness is "What about heaven? Won't I be held accountable for all my bad deeds there?"
"As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12 (NKJV)
God says that He has separated my sins from me as far as the east is from the west. God gives us a beautiful illustration of his long lasting forgiveness in this verse. One day I was sitting at my desk contemplating these verses. I wondered why God said that He had separated our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. I know that He was careful to choose words that paint a clear picture for us, so I wondered why He chose that direction instead of saying that our separation from sin is as far as the north is from the south.
As I thought about that I realized that I could begin traveling from my office and drive south to the South Pole, then begin driving north till I reached the North Pole, then travel south again to my starting point. However, I could also travel around the world millions of time going east, reaching my starting point over and over without ever driving in any direction but east. It hit me like a lightening bolt. Though there is a South Pole and a North Pole, there is no East Pole and no West Pole.
There is no place at which east meets west. And suddenly that verse took on a whole new meaning for me. If God had chosen the words "north from south? then that would mean that there would be some eventual point at which I would meet up with my sins again. But by carefully choosing the words "east from west? God was showing me that there will never be a point in the future where I will meet my sins again.
I won't face my sins again; not in this life and not in the life to come. After fully realizing that fact through an understanding of this verse, everything began to make sense. God's forgiveness is truly forever. And He cared enough about my sense of security that He painted a picture that will forever assure me of that fact.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Hebrews 8:12 (NKJV)
If God says "no more" do you think He means "but after a while I'll start remembering again?" If He says, "no more", do you think He is going to list them for you in heaven? It makes me shudder to hear people say, "God will hold us accountable for our sins when we get to heaven."
What kind of life does that give us here? Wouldn't that be a life of constant fear that we will do something that we'll have to pay for in heaven one day? Does that kind of thinking cause us to look forward to heaven?
You may say, but what about the verses in I Corinthians that speak of the judgment seat of Christ and say that we'll be held accountable for all our deeds on earth, both good and bad? Remember that you have to interpret the Bible as a whole and this verse as many believers take it contradicts the basics of grace.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." II Corinthians 5:10 (NKJV)
So what can that verse mean? The subject of our heavenly rewards will be addressed in detail in another lesson in this volume, but for now let's look closely at this one verse and how it relates to our forever forgiveness.
It's important to understand that the judgment to which this verse is referring is not for the purpose of getting "into? heaven. It's for giving out rewards. Do you realize that there are some things that you do that are not sin, yet they are also not something that you will be rewarded for? For instance, you may think that since you are teaching Sunday School or giving, or some other "good" deed you will be automatically rewarded for it in heaven. But what was your motive? Was it for recognition or to get something out of it?
Teaching Sunday School is not a "bad" deed, but if it is done with the wrong motive, then you've received your reward here on earth. There will be no more reward in heaven. Such activity is wood, hay, and stubble and will not survive the test of fire.
In fact, the Greek word used and translated "bad" in this verse is phaulos and it refers to that which is "good for nothing." It describes an activity from which no profit or gain is derived. This word stresses the lack of value that the deed contributes. Basically, the verse is talking about worthless service. It is not the same as the Greek word poneros which means malicious, describing what is evil or "bad". If God had wanted us to believe that we would be held accountable for our sins, He would have used the words that would convey that understanding.
The passages in I Corinthians that address the heavenly judgments are speaking of your deeds, both good and those that are "good for nothing? - they are worthless because they were not done under the leadership of God, you did it in your own strength, or you did it with the wrong motive. But these verses do not provide any basis for believing that we will be held accountable for our sins when we get to heaven.
The Importance Of Believing the Truth About Forgiveness
As long as Satan can keep us deceived about this one matter, our attention will stay focused on ourselves and what we can do to make up for the sins we commit. We will be consumed with doing whatever we can do to keep God from punishing us for them. The last thing Satan wants you to focus on is the truth that your sins have been REMOVED and WHO removed them, because if you do, a chain reaction will start. You will focus on Christ, He will fill you, live His life through you, produce the right behavior you could never do on your own, and God will be glorified in your life.
Deeper Truths Contained In This L.I.F.E. Lesson
1. God's forgiveness is far reaching. From the lives of Bible characters we can know with assurance that there is nothing we can do that is out of the reach of God's forgiveness.
2. God's forgiveness is final. The death of Jesus and the blood that He shed on the cross was enough to purchase my forgiveness. He has paid the debt in full.
3. God's forgiveness is fail-proof. He has ensured that I can never do anything to remove the protection of His forgiveness from my life.
4. God's forgiveness is forever. I will not meet up with my sin again in this life or in heaven.
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