As it has often been said, “Sin takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and requires more than you want to pay.” Sin sows in pennies, but reaps in spades. It rapes our minds of joy, joy that can only be experienced with a clean conscience.
But when we feel our guilt acutely and when our heart condemns us, let us not forget that God does not leave us to wallow hopelessly in our own guilty consciences. Rather, the message of the Gospel is that God promises a clean conscience because the penalty of our sin has been paid by Christ. Therefore, God calls us to turn from our dirty wickedness and to trust Christ’s payment–and nothing else–as our hope of forgiveness, new spiritual life, and a clean conscience before God.
God’s fiery wrath against sin has been satisfied completely,once-for-all time, in Christ’s death. Jesus now serves as our High Priest in God’s presence continually pleading the blood of His perfect sacrifice on our behalf. Thus, because of Jesus’ blood which speaks continually before the father, “I have paid the price for sin,” the Father’s wrath is satisfied and He will never break out in damning punishment against those who are adopted into Christ’s family and covered by Jesus’ blood. Because of His perfect payment for sin, Jesus has won his sons and daughters a clean conscience.
Adoption into Jesus’ family is the grounds on which the promise of a clean conscience is offered to us. This adoption becomes ours only by faith in God and His promise of forgiveness in Christ. God requires us to believe that He exists, to turn from our sins, and to turn toward Christ as our only hope for forgiveness from our sins and adoption into God’s family. This message of forgiveness through Christ Jesus alone is the sole key to the deadbolt on guilt’s door.
Are you not a Christian? Then turn from your sin and embrace Christ alone to find the only solution to a guilty conscience before God and the only sure hope of eternal life in God’s kingdom. Hear these strong words of Jesus Christ:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6 ESV)
…Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15 ESV)
Are you already a Christian, yet you still feel the pull of your condemning conscience? Hear these comforting words from the letter to the Hebrews:
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)
Christian, take your clean conscience, cleansed by Christ’s ever-cleansing blood, and go on your way down the pilgrim’s path of faith, knowing that the entire road is one of repentance. Hear the words of a faithful brother who has gone before us:
When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said “Repent”, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.These are the words of Martin Luther’s first head of his 95 theses.
Very interesting post. I really liked the quote from the beginning. One of the most left out topics in Christian discussions today would be mortification of sins. I am currently reading a book by the Puritan author, John Owen, entitled “The Mortification of Sin.” I think that Owen is very insightful and very practical. While I acknowledge and rejoice in the justification of Christ on our behalf and the imputation of His righteousness to our account. I believe that sanctification is just as much a necessity to consider. The believer’s soul is a garden in need of constant tending. Putting to death our sins, allows us delight in who God is for us in Christ. By no means would I mistaken this in place of justification which is God’s solemn forensic declaration, but rather a vigilant undertaking which is accompanied by God’s full provision of grace. I think the statistics that Riddlebarger point out concerning many pastors, shows that confusion between pastors placing sanctification in the place of justification.
I did have to wonder though about your statement: “This adoption becomes ours only by faith in God and His promise of forgiveness in Christ.” I would say that adoption doesn’t become ours, but rather adoption is a consequence of God’s choosing: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30 ESV) It is interesting to not the necessity of the chain, if one happens then necessarily the other will too. So the adoption is ours, but if we agree that even faith is something God must impart (Ephesians 2:8) as well as repentence (Acts 11:18) then we can truly grasp the weight of Hebrews 12:2 : “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” I really enjoyed your post and I hope to read some more later down the line. God Bless.
Very good post. I think you will like this that I posted on my blog the other day.
Hi Dylan,
I like how you worded the phrase about our “soul’s garden” being “in need of constant tendering.” Whew, pulling weeds is hard, sweaty work (esp. in Florida summers! :-)). Also, I am encouraged to hear that you are reading Owen on the mortification of sin. It is rich and deep. Owen cuts straight to the heart and doesn’t beat around the bush. Sin stinks, and there’s no way to make it smell good. It must be “put to death” and “mortified,” as Owen (and Paul) speak of doing so.
About my adoption statement, I agree with the heart of what you are saying and am in no way trying to subvert biblical doctrines of election, regeneration, et. al., by inserting a plug for libertarian human freedom. I readily agree that it is God that gives the gift of faith–He opens our dead, blind eyes and deaf ears to see and hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Or in a word, I believe that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
How we talk about “the transaction” of justification and sanctification in the technical, theological and philosophical senses can become most difficult and confusing (though indeed not without value). Perhaps the issue you raise has to do with wrestling with a good way to understand and communicate how the processes of justification and sanctification are applied while taking into consideration our present eschatological situation: that we are living in the “already, but not yet” time period of the Kingdom of God. Such a situation makes the relationship between the “order of salvation” (ordo salutis) and the “history of salvation” (historia salutis) fairly tricky to live out.
For example, we have been definitevly justified in God’s sight due to Christ’s work, but we are not yet in the consummation of Christ’s kingdom. Therefore, in one sense we await the final judgment day where we are justified forever in the fullest sense, when we will live in perfect fellowship with Christ in our resurrected bodies. Sanctification must be processed in the same categories as well. In one sense, because of Christ’s perfect active and passive obedience on our behalf, we are totally sanctified in God’s sight. Yet, until Christ comes we are being progressively sanctified by grace and the Spirit’s work in our lives. And we will experience the fullest sense of our sanctification only in the new heavens and new earth, the consummation of Christ’s kingdom in which there will be no sin. Only then will we have the fullest experience of our sanctification.
I wrote a brief into to this topic (though it is not necessarily the most clear and could use a good retooling, I think) in my article on the ordo salutis.