02/10/2018
You are a professed Christian, and yet you are still nervous about entering into the presence of God? Do all of the sins in your life come flooding back, and beads of sweat pop out on your forehead at just the thought of meeting with the God of the Universe? This was the kind of concern the Jews who served in the temple had, and so much so that those who were tasked to go into the Holy of Holies would have a rope tied around them... in case they were struck dead and their body had to be recovered. Yet we are not to fear because we are cleansed in the blood of Christ; the perfect sacrifice... the Lamb of God. So why are you nervous?
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:19-23 ESV
One of the most diabolical devices that Satan uses to separate us from God has nothing to do with our current state of sin... it has everything to do with the wake that the forgiven sins in our lives have left behind. By utilizing our conscience, he uses the memory of our past sins against us, and attempts to make them real again. In this way he takes what God has set aside, and through our own doubt in the word of God, convicts us with it once more.
Do you go into your place of prayer and ask forgiveness for your sin only to exit and pick that guilt right back up again as if you never sought forgiveness? Do you bring this upon yourself because you haven’t joined God in forgiving? Maybe you doubt that He would ever really forgive you for something so embarrassing, or horrible? In doing this you are exhibiting a lack of faith in who Jesus is, and that He has defeated sin for us, and you are doubting the promise of God... you are calling God a liar.
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
Psalms 103:11-12 ESV
Our conscience is good when God uses it to convict us of sins we have not repented of, and to call us to penitence, where we ask for His forgiveness. Yet Hebrews 10:22 calls our conscience evil; why is that? In fact it is only evil when Satan uses it against us, when he uses it in an attempt to convict us once again for sins that God has separated us from; when he uses it to instill this belief in us which is a total fabrication... a complete lie.
Jesus is our great priest, our high priest, but He is also the perfect sacrifice... the Lamb of God... the offering that removes the need for any future sacrifice. The cross was the altar on which He was offered up, and by His blood we are forgiven once and for all of our sins. This is the promise of God, this is the cleansing that we must have unshakeable faith in, and this is the belief we must hold to with all our might. This is truth... the truth that Jesus Himself speaks to regarding our worship.
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."”
John 4:23-24 ESV
Yet we are tempted to be nervous when we enter into the presence of God, and wooed by Satan who wishes to convict us of phantom sin.
When my children were toddlers they would occasionally write on the wall in their room. Scrub as we might, we could not remove the crayon, pencil, or ink marks. When this would happen Ann and I would scold them, and they would say they were sorry, but then we had to do something more... we had to hug and forgive them, and then had to cover up the marks. The wall was repainted, the marks were gone, but every so often our child would point to where they had written, remember the wrong they had done, and say they were sorry again. They were feeling convicted by something that we had already erased. This is what Satan would like to do in our lives. He wants to resurrect sin, and convict us over and over again for those things that God has forgiven, and that the blood of Christ has covered. These are phantom sins that now exist solely in our memories as shadows, and are no longer there.
We don’t want our children to be nervous when they come to us. We don’t want old discretions to come up time and time again. We want those things we have forgiven to remain in the past, to be forgotten completely, and not to taint the relationship we now share. We want the hugs, forgiveness, and paint to remove those things, and unfettered love to return.
So resist the temptation of Satan, keep your conscience in check regarding those things now forgiven, let the blood of Jesus cover them, and the love, and grace, of our Holy Father return; steadfast in our faith and believing without reservation in His promise.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your grace, and forgiveness. Thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who lived, suffered, died, and was resurrected that I might find perfect forgiveness of my sins. I thank you Merciful Father for removing those sins completely from me. I thank you for your love and desire for me to come before you without trepidation just as I wish for my children to come to me. Father, protect me from the dark one who attempts to subvert my conscience, and use it in an unnatural way as he seeks to separate us. Hear my footsteps Father as I walk towards you in Spirit and Truth, and smell the sweet fragrance of my prayers as they mix with the incense rising before your throne. Give me confidence and assure me as I come. Let your love meet me on the way as I praise you with every step. Remove all doubt father, and increase my faith in your word and promise as I make these final strides, and enter into your presence... comforted by your Spirit, and washed in the blood of your Son Jesus Christ. Holy, Holy, Holy are you, and perfect the sacrifice that brings me to you for eternity.
Rich Forbes