Have you ever noticed the squeaky clean sound you hear after washing your hair and
running your hands through it? This got me to thinking about a comparison between the body and the soul of a Christian. Can we say that our spiritual self is as squeaky clean as our physical being?
We take great pains in keeping
our bodies clean, which I’m sure is greatly appreciated by those around us. Some
even apply that same care to their favorite car, truck, boat or whatever. Let’s
stick with the body and soul for now though.
Referring only to true Christians,
probably all keep their bodies clean if they are able to do so. How many of us
however are as concerned about the cleanliness of our souls, especially as we
see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25)? When Jesus returns for His bride (His
Church), how many will be caught “with egg on their face” … so to speak? We
should give that serious consideration.
In my opinion Christians
handle their spiritual cleanliness in one of three ways.
1.
Constantly worry
about sin in their life.
2.
Confess sins as
often as necessary
3.
Feel they rarely
sin, if ever.
Before looking at these three
attitudes toward sin, let us be clear on something else first. When it comes to
our salvation, we are sinless in the eyes of God. We are squeaky clean in other
words. How can that be?
I hope we can all agree with Simon
Peter in Luke 5:8 when he, “fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me;
for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
How about with Isaiah in
Isaiah 6:5 when he said, “… Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips…”
Every true Christian came to
the point in their lives that, along with the publican in Luke 18:13 when he, “standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his
breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” Along with Noah, we “found
grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8).”
So here’s the point, as far
as our salvation (relationship with God) is concerned, upon our being born
again, we are righteous in the eyes of God. We are squeaky clean. What makes
that possible? Upon our being born again Jesus covers us with His
righteousness.
“I will greatly rejoice in
the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments
of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a
bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with
her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)
(Also see Job 29:14; Psalms
132:9; Isaiah 11:5; 59:17; 64:6; Zechariah 3:4; Revelation 3:4 and 19:8.)
If we are truly a Christian,
we will never be judged for our sins.
“There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)
“As far as the east is from
the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalms 103:12)
Therefore, since Jesus has
covered us with His righteousness, we are always squeaky clean positionally. At
the cross Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins and clothed us with His righteousness
when we called upon Him to save us.
However, even as a Christian,
we still have that old sin nature within us that wants to fight with the new
nature that God has placed within us by His Spirit. The apostle Paul spoke of
this in Revelation chapter 7. So how do we deal with this dilemma?
Some Christians constantly
worry about sin in their life.
Everyone sins, Christians and
non-Christians alike, without exception. When a Christian sins, the penalty for
those sins has been paid by the blood of Christ, but even so, they wreak havoc
on our fellowship with God. Our salvation is secure, but the fellowship we have
with our Lord is interrupted, because He cannot fellowship with sin.
That being said, Satan wants
the Christian to spend as much time as possible worrying about his/her sins. He
doesn’t want us to confess them (1 John 1:9), forget them and move on. No, no,
he wants us to keep looking at the sins, because it keeps our eyes off God.
Let me be clear that I am not
making light of any sin. They are all offensive in God’s eyes and our Lord paid
dearly for our freedom from sin. And that is the point … when we worry about
sins we have confessed to Him, and then keep worrying about them, we keep sinning
in two ways:
1.
He said He would
forgive us if we confess our sins. If we continue to worry about them, we are
calling God a liar, refusing to believe He actually did forgive us.
2.
Also, we make
light of the price paid by God to save us and to keep us in fellowship with
Him.
Some Christians confess
their sins as often as necessary.
This is exactly what we should
be doing every day. The word “confess” in 1 John 1:9 means literally to name
the sins. God tells us to name our sins to Him and He will forgive them (“He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins”) and also He will forgive those sins
in our life we forgot or were not aware of (“and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness”).
“If we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.”
Some Christians feel they
rarely sin, if ever.
It’s hard to believe that a
Christian would make such a comment, but some do. They have a real problem at
this point because God doesn’t see it that way. God says, “If we say that we
have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10)
Those are strong words. I
would advise anyone disagreeing with what God says in the above verse (and many
other Scripture verses) to immediately go to God and ask forgiveness.
Is it even possible for a
true Christian to say they don’t sin? My Mother’s Sunday School teacher years
ago actually made the comment that she “does not sin.” That is in direct conflict
with God’s word on the matter. This sounds very much like the Pharisees and we
know from Matthew 23 what Jesus thought of their sins.
So to recap, we all sin, but
a true Christian can go to our Heavenly Father and confess their sins and be forgiven.
For the true Christian, the relationship with God (our salvation) is always
intact and the fellowship can be restored by seeking forgiveness and turning
from the sin/s.
Our salvation as a child of
God is always secure in His hands. Our position (our relationship) in Jesus Christ
is guaranteed by the seal of the Holy Spirit.
“In Him you also trusted,
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also,
having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the
guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)
Any sins in our lives will
not alter our relationship in Christ, but they will interfere with our fellowship
with Him. So to keep that fellowship unbroken, we should confess our sins immediately,
accept His forgiveness, turn from them and leave them behind us. If they crop
up again, and they may, repeat what we have just stated. Don’t allow Satan to cause
us to take our eyes off Jesus and focus on our sins, but let us focus our Lord.
Even though we often fail, we
should make as much effort spiritually as we do physically to keep ourselves squeaky
clean.
Grant Phillips
Email: Phillip5769@twc.com
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html
