1 John 5:13 “I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life.”
Under the old covenant there was no assurance of forgiveness, because there were endless sacrifices for sin. Every year 113 bullocks, 37 rams, 30 goats and 1093 lambs were sacrificed at the temple in Jerusalem. However, in Hebrews 10:12 we read that when “this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” Under the old covenant, God was saying essentially: “If you keep my laws, I will bless you”, whereas under the new covenant, he says: “You can’t keep my laws, therefore I offer you salvation as a free gift through Jesus.”
This central biblical truth is profoundly liberating. How many of us live under crushing burdens of guilt because we fail to meet even our own standards, let alone God’s? One lady couldn’t forgive herself and her counselor took her to 1 John 1:7 which says that “the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.” She read the verse aloud but unconsciously left out the ‘all’. He made her repeat it several times, but each time she missed the ‘all’. When he highlighted it, she paused and then screamed with delight as the penny truly dropped for her.
After Sunday school a young boy said to his father: “Do you know what God can’t see?”
“God can see everything, son.” “No,” his son replied: “God cannot see my sins when they are covered by the blood of Jesus.”
God loves us to bits. It’s no namby-pamby touchy-feely love, it’s the tested costly love that sent his Son to the cross for us, to give us total assurance that he accepts us fully, forgiving us all our sin. Live in that glorious freedom today!
Thank you Jesus! I choose today to live in the total freedom you bought for me. Amen!
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