It is finished

In Bible days, when a bill had been paid, the creditor wrote “It is finished” across the invoice. This is significant because each sin is a debt to God. However, when Jesus died on the cross, He loudly declared, “It is finished!” The price or penalty for all sin was paid. At this amazing grace, I weep.

“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:24–28)

Christ bore my sin. His sacrifice was made once — to cover it all: past, present, future. The debt is paid, it is finished. How can I respond to this? The psalmist poured out praise . . .

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:1–14)

As today’s devotional reading says, Jesus Christ came into the world for this express purpose: to redeem hopelessly sinful people and put away our sin. He came to establish peace between us and God by the sacrifice of Himself.

Do I realize the evil of sin? This morning’s news verifies its reality. Sin says ‘no’ to God and by doing so, sinners so easily slide from pride in their own righteousness into unspeakable evils. Read the headlines. Humanity tries to rule itself and what is happening with that?

It starts at birth with ‘I want what I want when I want it.’ Good parents try to train selfishness out of their children, yet it pops up again and again. Why would a child grow up to be a terrorist, or a rapist, or a drug runner? It is the sin that we are born into, and even if that child never goes that far, doing my own thing and ignoring God is still sin, no matter how I strain at self-righteousness.

All the costly sacrifices in the Old Testament could not finish sin. Religious zeal and devotion cannot finish sin. Not even repentance, faith and a holy life can do it, nor can suffering the wrath of God in eternity do it. But the Lord Jesus Christ did it! By His one all-sufficient, perfect and eternally sufficient sacrifice at Calvary, the Son of God has put away all sin forever! It is finished.

There is only one remaining sin, the sin of rejecting Jesus and what He has done. That one seems to prevail, yet it is possible to be finished with it also. All it takes is a simple ‘yes’ from a heart that wants its sin to be done with, totally finished.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus Christ, what can I say to this? You have removed my sin. I stand before God, not in my own righteousness, but in You, and in all that You are. My debt is paid, my sin is finished, even what I may do next week is already crossed off the ledger. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless Your holy name!

Free Indeed

Today’s devotional reading, this time from “My Utmost for His Highest,” rekindles a germ of an idea that I’ve not studied or thought through in great depth. However, this intrigues me and draws me to consider once more what it means to be a Christian.

My example is Jesus Christ. He is God in human flesh. How did this happen? The Bible says He lived on earth as a sinless man, not relying on His God-ness, but on the Holy Spirit, just as Christians are supposed to do.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5–8)

If I am to be like Jesus, I can think as He thinks because He lives in me and I have His mind. (1 Corinthians 2:16). Yet unlike Jesus who began as deity and occupied a human body, I started out as a sinful human being and am now occupied by deity. Also unlike Jesus who choose to live as a sinless human, I now must choose to live by faith in the Son of God who lives in me. 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

My question is how much of me is involved in this? When I decide to live in the flesh and have my own way, I know that is fully me. Jesus, who lives in me, never instigates nor promotes that decision. However, when I decide to obey the Holy Spirit and present myself to God in humble admission of my need for Him, is that me? Or did Jesus living in me produce that decision?

The devotional says that in our own personality, those who are Christian have the capacity to humble ourselves, discipline ourselves, even to stop sinning. This is not true for everyone, but for Christians because, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

We have been released from the penalty of sin by the death and resurrection of our Savior. We are being released from the power of sin by the fact of His indwelling presence. Because of that, then our battle is not against sin and death (that battle is won) but against that old sinful nature called the flesh. The flesh is the self-centered individuality that wants to live and act apart from God. In my flesh, I will choose to ignore the new creation of “Christ in me” and try to avoid God. Yet, as today’s reading says, I have, as a set-free-from-sin Christian, the capacity to now “present that fleshy natural life to God until it is transformed into a spiritual life by obedience.”

At least one cult teaches that Christ gives us the power to earn our salvation. I now understand how they think that. They err because they do not realize that when we are set free from sin (and given this power to choose), we are at that moment, set free from the penalty of sin. We never earn or deserve that. Salvation is a gift by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) and with this gift, we are set free to choose how to live. The saved person can live by faith in Christ or by trusting the old flesh. Yet we discover a wonderful reality: the life of Christ is so powerful that it cannot be denied. As Galatians 2:20 says, He has identified us with Himself to the extent that when He died on the cross, we died with Him. That old self is separated from God forever. Our new life is far too wonderful to put on a shelf and ignore. It just keeps bubbling up like a spring of living water.

The devotional today says that any remnant of individual conceit will always say ‘I can’t’ whereas the new person wants more and more of Christ. God designed us with a great capacity for Himself. Sin and the flesh keep us from getting at God. Yet He delivered us from sin. Our battle is with the flesh and we can deliver ourselves from it by presenting ourselves to God, sacrificing our I-wants and selfishness until we are living by faith and not flesh.

This reading also says that God does not pay any attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual life. I agree. I may have a good IQ or some sort of talent or ability, but none of that matters. It is still
‘self’ and I am not to live by it. God calls me to obey Him, whether I think I can do something or not. 

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

I cannot even plead that I suffer from wandering thoughts, because He tells me to stop doing it. I’m to instead cease from listening to the tyranny of my fleshy individuality and selfishness, and live in the freedom of one who has been set free. If I ask God to do what He asks me to do, I’ve forgotten that what I ask has already been made possible and I just need to walk into that freedom.

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Father, my mind still cannot wrap itself around the God-man idea of Jesus compared to the me-Jesus idea of being Christian, but I know one thing: You have delivered me from the penalty of sin and given me eternal life. You have also provided Jesus so I am being delivered from the power of sin. That process is not about earning eternal life, but about letting the eternal life which I already have, be the source of everything that I think, say, and do. My old nature is useless, even crucified. May I continually consider it dead and therefore live as one who has been set free, because, by grace, the Son of God has made me “free indeed.”