BIBLICAL BRIEFS 81
The liberation of (constant) consciousness of sin is at the core of the entire gospel. 2Cor. 7:10 is a key word in this matter: “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” When Jesus taught his disciples about the Holy Spirit, He emphasizes that only the Spirit convicts of sin (John 16: 8), not Satan – he condemns you (Rev. 12:10; Job 1:9; 2:5; Zac. 3: 1-2). Many believers continue to live with a conscience of guilt and a sense of failure for not being able to satisfy God. But those feelings are not inspired by the Holy Spirit but by the opponent! This is the way he tries to sift you (Luke 22:31)! Because the teeth of the roaring lion were figuratively drawn at the cross, he is no more than a toothless opponent to believers. He is still actively busy in the lives of unbelievers, as well as in the world (1Joh. 5:19), but he is also actively working in believers whom he has taken captive to do his will (2Tim. 2:26). But we have to preserve ourselves so that the evil one cannot harm us (1John 5:18). We have to keep us from evil (John 17:15; 2Thess. 3:3), and be delivered from evil (Matt. 6:13). Be assured that God wants to give you a strategy to deliver you from the present evil world (Gal. 1:4) – we ought to stand firm in faith in denying the beast (1Pet. 5: 8-9; Rev. 13: 6) who strikes “with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, and with every wicked deception” (2Thess. 2:9-10) and through that all wants to convince us of our vulnerability. After salvation and rebirth, many believers still feel that they are not worthy to be called a child of God. Their intense consciousness of their dark nature and sin blocks them from being able to pray and function effectively. They feel like orphans, and not like beloved sons, and it robs them of confidence and boldness to interact freely with their Father. They can hardly practice their faith, because they grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness (Deut. 28:29). To get past Satan’s charges, the believer must constantly call on the fact that Jesus came, amongst other things, to take away your personal sin (1Joh. 3:5). John the Baptist’s recognition of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb remains the most beautiful proclamation: “There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus has died for every sin, iniquity, and transgression (Ps. 51: 2-3), those of the past AND of the future, and therefore carefully transforms every thread of your dark nature’s demonic mantle into a mantle of glory (Isa. 61:10). The cornerstone of salvation and deliverance is spelled out in Rom. 10: 9-10: “that if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.” In 1Joh. 1:9 this unequivocal truth is given: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1Joh. 1:7 establishes this: “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin”. Please note: ALL SIN. Although we have to prevail against sin, we now live from another identity of total liberty and righteousness, in intimacy with a Father who has compassion on our weaknesses (Heb. 4: 14-15), and who keeps forgiving us if we still sin (1Joh. 2: 1-2), because 2Tim. 2:13 will direct you towards Him again, and again: “If we are untrue to Him, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
Dr Tom Gouws
