One of the great mysteries and revelations of the gospel of Christ is how the blood he shed on the cross settled once and forever the judgment and punishment due us as sinful people. Hebrews 10 and 12 are packed with an explanation of how this works and why.
Paul wrote in many of his letters of how Jesus died once for all, past present, and future whoever would call upon His name in repentance for their sins (1 Peter 3:18). This gift of salvation through His shed blood, not by works, is fundamental to the true gospel represented in the Bible. There is no other way to salvation and restoration of faith but through faith in his shed blood for our sins. Such was the main theme of the Bible from old through the new testament.
Yet today we live in a world full of religions that contradict these fundamentals of the faith. Just like the Jews who added hundreds of extra laws and commandments to the original ten, so has modern Christianity added myriads of expectations, mysticism, and “works” to the salvation message.
As I have been testifying to my renewed life in Christ I continue to be amazed by the world’s perception of what Christianity is. People reject the faith often because they perceive that they can never be good enough to be a Christian…and they are right. Most people see Christianity as something people do or don’t do in this world. What they continue to miss is that righteousness can only come through the blood sacrificed by Jesus. It is only because of that blood and his Holy Spirit revealing this truth to us that we can find forgiveness and freedom to live righteously. On our own, we are doomed to fail if we think we can be good enough on our own. Our righteousness is as “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9-10). Not by our good works or how great we think we are. “By Christ alone, by faith alone, by grace alone”.
Scripture tells us that faith is a gift given to us, not something we possess within ourselves. Even Jesus’ disciples and apostles in the early church could do nothing by faith until they received the Holy Spirit who gave them the power to become “Sons of God”. It was this power from the spirit that allowed them to be righteous and do miracles or good works…not the other way around where they had to somehow “prove” themselves. This was the power that propelled this new covenant of grace and mercy to spread throughout the world even until now.
So where do works and being righteous come in? This is a process of sanctification where God’s Spirit works in us to perfect us bit by bit until Jesus returns to establish his kingdom forever. “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14). We work and become good purely out of love and Thanksgiving for his redemptive powers. His one-time sacrifice covers us for all time and his spirit enables us to overcome sin and the powers of this world that is no longer our home once we know the truth. It is usually not instantaneous but a lifelong process. The original disciples followed Jesus for three years before they had any full understanding of why they had been called to follow him or what that meant.
If we fall for the religious version of Christianity, we will never get off the treadmill of legalism, guilt, and shame of our human experience. When we sincerely seek God and accept the power of his grace and mercy, he will start the good works in us through love and forgiveness…not judgment and damnation. The law no longer holds dominance over those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:14). We become free to live for God out of love and a sense of belonging, not under threat of judgment for being the failures that we are. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)
My grace is sufficient says the Lord. Going to church does not accomplish this. Walking into a church does not make one a Christian any more than walking into a bar makes you an alcoholic. It is what happens to you spiritually in fellowship with true believers that will change you because “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20). Taste and see that the Lord is good. Drink from his cup and be covered by his blood which is key to knowing him in his fullness.
Now we see as through a glass darkly but then we shall know him fully (1 Corinthians 13:12). Meanwhile do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together to encourage and remain faithful unto the end. Stir up the spirit within you (1 Timothy 1:6-7) and share it with others out of love and acceptance, not judgment and legalism. Be free in Christ knowing that he will continue the work in you until your perfection at that time and in the glory of his appearing.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews10:19-25