It may seem quite bold to say that you are not guilty of anything but that is the will of God for your life.
We need to understand that the only way to get to Not Guilty is to start with Guilty. We must take responsibility for our sins first to have them forgiven. To have an empty hand, we must let go of whatever is in our hands. Think about a rather unpleasant subject – taking out the garbage.
How much garbage do you think you should keep on garbage night? All of it must go. Otherwise, we are holding onto a very unhealthy contamination.
God is so humble in this way. He is like the garbage man, desiring to take away all of our offenses. But, He will not take away anything that we don’t put on the sidewalk.
We must first confess and place our offenses out in the open before He can take them away. When was the last time that the garbage man knocked on your front door to ask you if you forgot anything to put in the trash? It is our responsibility to put it all out. Once the trash is gone, we take the empty can back and start the cycle again.
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.
We are constantly cleaning, aren’t we? The process is part of daily living. Showers, teeth brushing, dishwashers, laundry, vacuuming…clean, clean, clean!
The Christian life is much the same spiritually speaking. We sin, we suffer from the sin of others. But, the answer is not to sin in return. We don’t get rid of garbage with more garbage.
We don’t return evil for evil. No, the Christian life is one of forgiveness for all sin. We are not built for toxic spirituality. We were created by God to be not guilty, free of sin.
It all starts with the cross and the blood of Jesus Christ. We have total and complete forgiveness for all sins past, present and future when we trust in the cleansing blood of the cross.
Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. Hebrews 9:22
If you are a Christian and you died tonight, you would go to heaven based on the merits of Christ’s Perfect Sacrifice. You cannot enter heaven unless you are found “Not Guilty”.
No sin whatsoever is able to enter heaven so knowing how imperfect we are, how can we dare think that God will let us in?
Read Romans 7:13-24. Notice that Paul sees himself struggling with sin in his human nature and yet, he points to Christ as the Savior from sin. Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Who will take all the garbage? Romans 8:1 is the answer: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Through the forgiveness of Christ’s sacrifice for us, we are not guilty. Guilt is killed because Christ was killed for us.
Yes, we sin everyday but just as our blood cleanses us continuously from the impurities inside our body, Christ’s Blood brings purity to our souls. We believe by faith in Christ that we are free from condemnation by Christ’s sinless life applied to our sins.
Faith in Christ makes us holy. He took away all of our sins, nailing them to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Consider yourself Not Guilty if you are trusting in Christ.
Finally, we are commanded to forgive all sins committed against us in the same way that we are forgiven. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Sin is toxic, we were not made to live with garbage.
Application: How does God’s Word compare to CRT teaching that holds people guilty for past offenses? Are you holding past sins by yourself or others inside instead of confessing them to God?