Benefits of the Cross Study, Session 2: He Forgives All My Sins

The first benefit listed in Psalm 103 is forgiveness of sins. If we can receive that first benefit and truly believe that we are justified through the blood of Jesus – just as if we’d never sinned – and if we can know deep in our hearts that we have been fully reconciled to God, then we will have no hesitation in taking advantage of the access we have to the riches of His grace and all the other benefits of the cross!

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Transcript/ notes from Session 2, “He Forgives All My Sins”

Introduction

Welcome to, “The Benefits of the Cross, Session 2.” This session is entitled, “He Forgives All My Sins.”

In the Revival series I mentioned to y’all a Holy Spirit moment I had years ago, when I was shopping at the Summit with one of my daughters. I was standing in the middle of some clothing racks, and the Holy Spirit spoke this to my heart, “When the lost and wandering come to your door and ask, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ You must nip condemnation in the bud.”

The first thing that impressed me was that they are coming. Those whom the devil has deceived are coming. The lost are coming in droves. The prodigals are coming home.

They will encounter grace like a tsunami when they meet Jesus face to face, and I believe that we all have an assignment from the Lord: nip condemnation in the bud. Do not even allow it to bud.

When the lost come flooding in, the devil will try the next best thing in his arsenal: If he can’t keep people from being saved, he will try to kill them with guilt, shame, and condemnation.

I got the sense that right on the heels of the coming revival, the enemy is going to attempt to sweep in with absolute torment with the guilt of sin like we have never seen. He will try to use the grace-hating spirit called legalism. And he’ll try to use the church that will welcome them with the open arms of grace, but then try to change them with legalism.

Some are afraid of grace – they are afraid that people will go crazy without the deterrent of shame.

But they don’t understand that grace is the best teacher:

Titus 2:11-12, NASB – [Paul wrote to Titus – ] For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. [Grace is the best Instructor and Mentor and Discipler!]

How do we combat the grace-hating spirit called legalism? With the gospel!

The gospel teaches that the blood of Jesus has washed away all of our sins.
The gospel teaches that we have been forgiven of every sin we have ever committed or will ever commit.
The gospel teaches we are as Jesus is – not just when we are saved, but forever in our spirit.
The gospel teaches that all of our sins have been removed from us as far as the east is from the west. We are forgiven, and our sins are forgotten.
The gospel teaches there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The gospel teaches that I am a new creation, the old has gone, and I am forever new.
The gospel teaches that God is not counting my sins against me.
Why? Because all of my sins were counted against Jesus at the cross.

All of the benefits come through the cross of Jesus Christ

So today I want to talk about the first benefit of the cross as listed in Psalm 103: “He forgives all my sins.” Now, before I get to that, you may be thinking, “But Psalm 103 is in the Old Testament. How do we know that the benefits listed there are the benefits of the cross?”

Because every benefit of God for all time comes through Jesus!

Last time, I shared Romans 3:26 which speaks of the justice of God. He is righteous in making the sinner righteous if they come to Him through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus – because the work of Jesus at the cross on their behalf is perfectly perfect and completely complete.

I want to read that verse in context in The Passion Translation so we’ll see that God was just in blessing Old Testament people, like King David, who wrote Psalm 103 – people who received the benefits of God even though Jesus had not yet been to the cross.

Romans 3:24-26, TPT – Yet through his powerful declaration of acquittal, God freely gives away his righteousness. His gift of love and favor now cascades over us, all because Jesus, the Anointed One, has liberated us from the guilt, punishment, and power of sin! 25 Jesus’ God-given destiny was to be the sacrifice [the Lamb of God] to take away sins, and now he is our mercy seat [on which the blood of the Lamb was sprinkled] because of his death on the cross. We come to him for mercy, for God has made a provision for us to be forgiven by faith [faith in what?] in the sacred blood of Jesus. This is the perfect demonstration of God’s justice, because until now, [until the cross] he had been so patient—holding back his justice out of his tolerance for us. [“Us” – Those who lived before the cross. Tolerance – other versions says “His forbearance” – His patience; a delay for the purpose of extending His grace] So he covered over the sins of those who lived prior to Jesus’ sacrifice. [the cross] 26 And when the season of tolerance came to an end, [Romans 5:6- “For when we were still without strength, IN DUE TIME Christ died for the ungodly.” When that due time had come- ] there was only one possible way for God to give away his righteousness and still be true to both his justice and his mercy—to offer up his own Son. So now, because we stand on the faithfulness of Jesus [not OUR faithfulness! The faithfulness of JESUS!], God declares us righteous in his eyes! [Therefore deserving of every benefit listed in the scriptures, Old and New Testament]

God was being completely just in delaying justice for the sin of people who lived before the cross because He was looking forward to the time when Jesus would come and take away not only our sins, but all sin!

God passed over sin and allowed sin to be atoned for – covered over – by the blood of animals for thousands of years.

Prior to the cross, you could say that Old Testament believers were “on credit” because their sin had not been paid for yet. The people received the benefits of what had not historically yet taken place: Jesus’s sacrifice.

It’s like buying something on a credit card: we enjoy the purchased item even though we haven’t paid for it yet. The Old Covenant sacrifices were like buying something on credit.

Old Testament believers looked forward to what Jesus would someday do, and believers today look back at what Jesus has already done.

The cross is the climax of all human history. Everything points to Jesus! Every benefit, every promise, comes through His finished work at the cross.

2 Corinthians 1:20, NIV – For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.

The blood of Jesus

So to Psalm 103:

Psalm 103:1-5 – 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, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. [All benefits which find their source in Jesus.]

Can you see why it is said that David was an Old Covenant believer with a New Covenant mindset? The first benefit he names is forgiveness: “He forgives all my iniquities. He forgives all my sins.”

How does God do it? The blood of the Lamb. It’s always been the blood. What does blood signify? Death.

Hebrews 9:22, NASB – Without shedding of blood [without death] there is no forgiveness.

Ezekiel 18:4 – The soul who sins shall die.

But under the Old Covenant, God gave the provision of the temple sacrifices:

Leviticus 17:11 – “For the life of the flesh [of the sacrificial animal] is in the blood, [The reason the life is in the blood is because the blood lives and is nourished from itself and by no other part of the body. The blood is the soul of the flesh. The blood is the fountain of life. And God says -] and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood [the vehicle of life – a life given in exchange for a life, a soul in exchange for a soul] that makes atonement for the soul.” [“Atonement” is the Hebrew word “kaphar” which means “to cover.” The blood of the sacrifice would cover the sin until the next sin. It was a temporary provision.]

But for us today, Jesus is our once for all sacrifice who gives eternal life.

Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 26:28 – [At the Last Supper, Jesus took the wine and said – ] “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Revelation 1:5-6 – To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father…

As a king, as a priest, as a child of God, as the bride of Christ, as a new creation, we should have a cleansed conscience before God, not because we haven’t sinned, but because Jesus loved us so much, He washed our sins away in His own blood. His life for ours. His soul for ours.

John 10:10-11 – “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. [“life” is zōē – it’s God life – heavenly life; life that restores what the enemy has stolen, killed, and destroyed.] 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”

In both verses 10 and 11 we see the word “life.” But they aren’t the same Greek word. In verse 11, it’s not zōē, it’s psychē, from which we get our word psychology. It’s the natural soul life.

He gave His psychē – His natural soul life – not only His body, but also His emotions and desires, and His will – His life-blood – the fountain of His natural life – the soul of His flesh – so we could receive His superabundant zoe. And He was the only One who could do it!

Hebrews 4:15 – For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. [Sin there is the noun “hamartia” – NOT the verb “hamartanō”]

Jesus wasn’t tempted to sin – the verb. He was tempted, yet without sin – the noun!!! The word “tempted” means “to test, to try whether a thing can be done, to put it to proof” like testing gold to make sure there are no impurities. Jesus was tested and tried and proved to be pure and holy without a nature of sin.

Jesus was not of the fallen race of Adam. He had His Father’s divine nature. Jesus was born as a human being the same way we are, however, instead of being conceived by the seed of a mortal man with sinful flesh, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin.

Jesus’s blood came straight from heaven from His Father. His blood was holy, royal, sinless, and divine. As I said last time, Jesus had no sin, committed no sin, and knew no sin. That’s why His blood is the only blood that could save us and wash our sins whiter than snow.

Jesus was the perfect, spotless, sacrificial lamb of God for us. The only way that Jesus had sin in Him at the cross was by imputation – He took our sin.

No more consciousness of sins

Last time I shared Hebrews 10:5 – when Jesus came into the world, He said to His Father: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me,” so that He could die. Those sacrifices wouldn’t remove the barrier, so He became the barrier so that it coudl be removed. “He who knew no sin became sin for us that we would become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) What I’m going to read next is the part of Hebrews 10 that comes right before that, but I will be reading from the Living Bible:

Hebrews 10:1-4, TLB – The sacrifices under the old system were repeated again and again, year after year, but even so they could never save those who lived under their rules. 2 If they could have, one offering would have been enough; [How would they know that ONE offering was enough?] the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and their feeling of guilt would be gone. [NKJV says, We would have no more consciousness of sins] 3 But just the opposite happened: those yearly sacrifices reminded them of their disobedience and guilt instead of relieving their minds. 4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats really to take away sins.

Those sacrifices were like sweeping the sins of the people under the carpet, but never relieving their conscience.

Each year more sin would be swept under the carper, and it would get fatter and fatter. The debt would pile up. It would look clean on the outside, but all the dirt – all the sin – was still there on the inside.

Every sacrifice was just a reminder that the sin was still there and that the true Lamb of god had not yet come.

But the cross changed everything! The Lamb of God has Come!

John 1:29 – Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Think about it – When we worship the Lamb of God, and when we say “Lamb of God,” we are specifically talking about His life-blood, a sacrifice, a slaughter! We are talking about what was required for our forgiveness! And when we worship the Lamb of God, we are expressing our gratefulness that God is not holding our sins against us because He has taken our sins away. Every time we think of the Lamb of God, it ought to cleanse our conscience.

We’re saying, “We worship You, Jesus, Lamb of God, because you have lifted up the carpet and purged all of our sin and purified us once for all!”

Hebrews 1:3 – …when He had by Himself [with no help from us!] purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high [He sat down because the work was finished – not a morsel of sin remained]

Do we believe it? For us today, it’s no different than it was back then – do we believe that the blood of Jesus has accomplished what God intended?

Or do believe that we have to cleanse ourselves with some sort of sacrificial work? Do we need to do penance, grovel, beat ourselves, confess more, give more, work harder to make ourselves right with God? Will we be a better person and behave better if we do all those things?

Of course not! If we believe all of that makes us right with God, it’s all dead works that only make us conscious of sin – which leads to condemnation – which leads to more sinning – the strength of sin is the law – the purpose of the law was to point out sin – it shut everyone’s mouths – it makes you feel unworthy! The law is holy, just, and good, but it cannot make you holy ustm and good. It can only show you that you aren’t! You will sin more because you think – “may as well go ahead and do it because that’s just who I am. I am a dirty rotten sinner.”

If we believe right, we’ll live right! We will act like what we believe we are. If we believe we are dirty rotten sinners, we will live like that. If we believe we are blood bought children of God, pure and holy, blameless and righteous, we will live like it. We need to remind each other that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!

Hebrews 10:17-20, TPT – [Back to Hebrews 10, but shifting to The Passion Translation – ] And then he [the witness of the Holy Spirit] says, “I will not ever again remember their sins and lawless deeds!” 18 So if our sins have been forgiven and forgotten, why would we ever need to offer another sacrifice for sin? 19 And now we are brothers and sisters in God’s family because of the blood of Jesus, and he welcomes us to come into the most holy sanctuary in the heavenly realm—boldly and without hesitation. [Parresia!] 20 For he has dedicated a new, life-giving way for us to approach God. For just as the veil was torn in two, Jesus’ body was torn open to give us free and fresh access to him!

Hebrews 10:22, TLB – …let us go right in to God himself, with true hearts fully trusting him to receive us because we have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean….

Forgiveness

So the first benefit of the cross is “He forgives all my sins.”

Ephesians 1:7 – In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

Not according to the confession of every sin, not according to begging for forgiveness for the same sin for 20 years because we don’t feel forgiven. We are forgiven “according to the riches of His grace” – which is unlimited. Where sin abounds, grace superabounds.

Forgiveness is the Greek word “aphesis” – to release from bondage or imprisonment; letting go of our sins as if they had never been committed, remission of the penalty; releasing someone from a debt or obligation.

What I am going to say next I have probably said 100’s of times over the years, but I want you to think of those lost ones and those prodigals who are coming home. They will need to know this. We need to have the mindset that Jesus had when He dealt with the woman caught in adultery, the woman with the alabaster box, and Zacchaeus – the mindset of Jesus who sat down with sinners and loved them.

We have been forgiven. Past tense. We aren’t working towards being forgiven. We are not forgiven as we go. We’re not forgiven some time in the future. All of our sins – past, present, and future – were paid for at the cross. This is where the word “redemption” comes in.

The ransom payment

Ephesians 1:7 – In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, [His blood is the ransom payment] the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

1 Peter 1:18-19 – you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, [Other versions says “you were purchased with the precious blood of Christ”] as [the blood] of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Redeem means to buy back. In the biblical sense it means “to be saved or delivered from sin and its consequences, to free believers from the curse of the law and sin.” The wages of sin is death! I read this: “The concept of redemption [in the ancient world] was well understood in terms of buying back slaves.”

We were slaves to sin – not the just the verb, but the noun – the nature of sin. We were sinners by nature. We were in a prison called sin, and there was nothing we could do to free ourselves.

So Jesus paid the ransom price with His own sinless blood to set us free.

1 Corinthians 6:20, AMP – You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own].

We were set free from the person of sin, and now we are in in a prison of righteousness – HIS eternal righteousness. The prison bars are His loving arms. Nothing you could ever do will ever change that. “He will hold me fast!”

Our redemption was free for us, but it cost Him everything. As I have said many times, grace does not make light of sin. It makes much of Jesus.

If we have even the slightest understanding of the price Jesus paid – last time I talked about what it cost for Jesus to humble Himself and become a forever bondservant for us – but we also need to understand the high price for our sin – the exceeding sinfulness of our sin, (Romans 7:13). We like to rate sin. God doesn’t rate sin. All have sinned and fall short of the glory fo God. The wages of any sin is death. None of us measures up. But if we can get just an inkling of what it cost, then we will want Jesus to get what He paid for out of honor, respect, and gratefulness for His love sacrifice for us. [Marianne’s dream]

With this first benefit of the cross – the forgiveness of our sins – what did Jesus pay for? What do we need to grab hold of and make the most of and honor the blood?

He paid for us to be in union with God forever.
He paid for us to be comfortable in God’s presence with no hesitation because of sin.
He paid for us to approach God at any moment without guilt, shame, or condemnation. [Bill and Von’s story]
He paid for us to thrive without any of the constraints of past sins.
He paid for us to live out our purpose and identity in Jesus apart from an identity in the flesh. I do not believe what some Christians believe – that we will always have to deal with that “thorn in the flesh” as if Paul was talking about some type of sin. He wasn’t talking about sin. He was talking about the naggers, the spirits sent to persecute him. You might have had propensities to certain sin. you might have had attractions that were not holy but God can completely change that and completely reverse it. He has paid for us to be completely free from a past identity in the flesh.
He paid for us to feel assured in calling ourselves God’s beloved children – accepted by Him and approved of by Him.
He paid for us to be confident saying, “I am not a sinner. I may sin, but sinner is not who I am. That is not my nature or identity.”
He paid for us to receive all the riches of God’s grace.
He paid for us to be in a position to receive all of the other benefits of God.

The first thing we receive is the payment – the forgiveness – the mercy – Jesus took what we deserved so that we could take what He deserves – so that we could receive His grace – the favor that we could never earn – all the other benefits of the cross. First receive the mercy, then you can receive the grace.

Do you realize that God forgave our sins for His own sake?!

Isaiah 43:25 – “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”

If you find it hard to receive His benefits for your sake, receive them for His! It blesses Him when we receive the forgiveness of our sins. Why? Because it honors His Son, and because we will live out and enjoy what He had always desired for us: a dynamic, fulfilling love relationship with Him.

Woman caught in adultery

The account that comes to mind to illustrate this truth is the story of the woman caught in adultery. After Jesus ran all her accusers off, Jesus said to her –

John 8:10-11 – “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

So often we have it backwards – we think, behave yourself, and you won’t be condemned, but Jesus puts no condemnation first! The power to “go and sin no more” is in the “Neither do I condemn you!”

Jesus loves us to the end of ourselves. He loved His disciples to the end of themselves. They all abandoned Him. We love until our loved ones come to the end of themselves – to the end of their wandering and unfaithfulness. This might be tested over decades!

But if people knew there is no condemnation when they fail – there may be consequences, but there’s no condemnation – if they knew that IN Jesus there is no judgment, no shame, no reproach, then they will go and sin no more.

And Jesus didn’t use the law with this woman. He didn’t bring up the commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” He didn’t use the ministry of death and condemnation as Paul called it in 2 Corinthians 3. He didn’t use shame with her. The others wanted her to feel shame. They wanted to stone her. The stones represent the law. They wanted to throw the law at her – throw the book at her and kill her with condemnation.

But Jesus was preoccupied with her freedom from condemnation, not her sin.

“Will not walk in darkness”

And then, in the context of defending this woman from those who wanted to use the law to condemn her, Jesus then spoke to the people, saying –

John 8:12 – [verse 12 – ] Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Where was Jesus headed? If they followed Him, where would He lead them? Remember: “I have come to do Your will, Oh God.” He was on assignment from His Father, headed to the cross, where He would bear our sin and shame.

All of our sin and shame would go in the grave with Him, and He would rise again without it, and then He would carry us from darkness to light – across the threshold into heavenly places.

Colossians 1:13-14 – He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us [both aorist tense verbs – one and DONE – never to be repeated – finished! We have been delivered once for all from darkness! We have been conveyed once for all -] into the kingdom of the Son of His love, [In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter writes “He called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” This is the kingdom of God’s Beloved Son – ] in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. [We have it! we’re not trying to get it!]

After defending the woman – “neither do I condemn you” – Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” He was saying this: “The place of no condemnation in Me is the place of light! And you don’t need to be afraid of that light anymore because when you step into that light, it doesn’t show your sin. It only exposes the perfection of My blood to remove those sins!”

In John 8:12 the phrase “shall not” in “shall not walk in darkness” is the Greek phrase “OU MĒ” meaning “He who follows Me to the cross can never, certainly not, ever, by any means, he shall not walk in darkness.”

Today for the believer who is in Christ, it is impossible for your spirit – your true identity – to be in darkness away from God because your spirit is forever joined to His.

As long as Jesus doesn’t sin and Jesus doesn’t die – neither of which will ever happen – you are joined to Him in the Spirit. You have already been conveyed into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. This is something people will need to know. At the first failure, legalism will tell them that God is angry with them, that they haven’t truly changed, that they can’t trust their hearts – it will even say, “You may not even be saved.”

We may sin in the flesh, and we may participate in the works of darkness, but that does not mean our spirit is in darkness. It just means we have forgotten who we are!

Ephesians 5:8 – For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. [That’s who you are!] Walk as children of light. [Identity first, then behavior]

Cleanses us from all sin

Some people believe that when we sin, we’re cut off from fellowship with God, and we go into darkness away from His presence. By definition, God is Light. If we’re in darkness, we’re not in Him! But Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit will abide with you forever.” (John 14:16)

So let’s look at 1 John 1:7 which some use to say when you sin, you’ll be in darkness away from God:

1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light as He is in the light [as God is], we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

I want you to notice that the scripture says “if we walk in the light…” It doesn’t say, “if we walk according to the light.”

Many have misunderstood this verse to say that we only walk in the light as long as we are behaving like God behaves – “as He is.”

In other words, as long as we don’t sin, and behave “as He is” – the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

But that doesn’t make sense! Why would we need the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from sin if we don’t sin?! And the only way to stay in the light would be to never sin. Impossible! But what does the scripture say? The blood of Jesus cleanses us from ALL sin.

The Greek verb for “cleanses” is in the present active indicative verb tense meaning that the blood is effective right now and forever cleansing and forever keeping us in the light.

It’s a present that has already determined the future. It will go on cleansing forever and ever.

“If we walk in the light…” Is not about how we are walking. It’s about where we are walking.

It’s not about the way we walk, it’s about the realm we are walking in – the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.

I love Romans 8:39 in The Message:

Romans 8:29, The Message – absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

I envision Jesus completely covering us with His arms and holding us – no matter what we have done. Nothing can separate us from Him. Do you know how long God’s outstretched arm is? It can reach to the far side fo the sea. Do you know how big His hand is? It’s huge! No one can snatch us out of His hand or our children or our grandchildren!

Frances Ridley Havergal

I want to end with a story. A few years ago when studying this topic of the blood of Jesus cleansing us from all sin, I learned of a woman named Frances Ridley Havergal, who wrote over 80 hymns including “Take My Life” and “Like a River Glorious.”

She lived in the 1800’s and was the daughter of a pastor. She was brilliant and could speak several languages and was a Greek and Hebrew scholar.

But at one time she was severely depressed and tormented because of guilt over her sin. She was obsessed with her failures – until God opened her eyes to the blood of Jesus.

I want to read a letter that she wrote to her sister in December, 1873:

“Yes, it was on Advent Sunday, December 2, 1873, I first saw clearly the blessedness of true consecration. I just saw it as a flash of electric light. And what you see you can never un-see. [You’ve heard me use this statement many times – the first time I saw it was when I read this testimony of Frances Ridley Havergal] First, I was shown that the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin, and then it was made plain to me that He who had past cleansed me had power to keep me clean. So I just utterly yielded myself to Him and utterly trusted Him to keep me. Have we been limiting 1 John 1:7 by practically making it refer only to remission of sins that are past? Instead of taking the grand simplicity of ‘cleanses us from all sin’? All is ALL, and as we trust Him to cleanse us from the stain of past sins so we may trust Him to cleanse us from all present defilement. Yes, ALL! If not, we take away from this most precious promise, and by refusing to take it in its fullness, lose the fullness of its application and power. Then we limit God’s power to keep. We look at our frailty more than His omnipotence.

Where is the line to be drawn beyond which He is not able? It was the one word “cleanses” that opened the door of the very hope of glory and joy to me. I had never seen the force of the present tense before – a continual present, always a present tense. Not a present which the next moment becomes a past. It goes on cleansing and I have no words to tell how my heart rejoices in it. Not a coming to be cleansed in the fountain only, but a remaining in the fountain so it may go on cleansing.”

And in another letter to a friend she shared it in a nutshell:

“One of the intensest moments of my life was when I saw the force of the word ‘cleanses’, the utterly unexpected and altogether unimagined sense of its fulfillment to me on simply believing in its fullness was just indescribable. I expected nothing like it short of heaven.” (From Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians, Lawson Gillquist)

That’s my experience!!

Three years later, in 1876, she wrote “Like a River Glorious”:

Like a river, glorious is God’s perfect peace,

Over all victorious, in its bright increase;

Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,

Perfect, yet it groweth, deeper all the way.

Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest;

Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Romans 5:1-2 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, [justified – just as if I’d never sinned!] 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…

The first benefit of the cross is forgiveness of sins. If we can just receive that first benefit – that we are justified – just as if we’d never sinned – because of the blood of the Lamb – if we can just know deep in our hearts that we have been fully reconciled to God, then we will have no hesitation in taking advantage of the access we have to the riches of His grace – all the other benefits of the cross.

Copyright info:

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

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Parresia Ministries

Parresia [pär-rā-sē'-ä]: a Greek word that means "boldness." Boldness before God to receive... Boldness before men to share... His scandalous grace with others! To read more about Parresia and the founder, Tricia Gunn, click here.