Grace Revolution: Experience the Power to Live Above Defeat (8 page)

Following Frances’s powerful revelation that caused her heart to rejoice greatly, she wrote two well-loved hymns, one of which was
Like a River Glorious
. Read the lyrics of this beautiful hymn and see how her revelation of the ever-cleansing blood of Jesus ushered the richness of God’s perfect peace into her heart and mind:

Frances’s last words before she went on to be with Jesus were, “It is all perfect peace. I’m only waiting for Jesus to take me in.” What a way to enter into glory—possessing a perfect assurance of salvation, because she knew in her soul that all her sins were forgiven, and that every moment of her life she stood forgiven before God!

My friend, if you’re living life in the valley of despair today, believing that your sins are separating you from intimacy with the Lord and miring you in defeat, I want you to know that because you have put your faith in Christ, you are under the fountain of the ever-cleansing blood of Christ! Every sense of defilement or stain of sin will be washed away from your conscience when you know and believe what Frances discovered.

Because Jesus’ blood continually cleanses you, you cannot bounce in and out of the light of Christ, in and out of being seated in the heavenly places in Christ, in and out of being forgiven, justified, and made righteous, or in and out of fellowship with God. It is not a sometimes-yes-sometimes-no salvation, but a salvation that has secured a
yes
to all of God’s promises because of the blood of Jesus (see 2 Cor. 1:19–20)!

There is another hymn about the cleansing blood of Jesus that I love to sing in church. Written by William Cowper, it is the beloved hymn
There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood
. William was a sensitive intellectual who for most of his life battled deep depression triggered by the traumatic experience of losing his mother at age six. Even after
a glorious conversion later in life, William would at times doubt the love of God and his security as a believer.

Not long before his death in 1800, William penned the beautiful words to
There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood
. The lyrics stand as a testament to the peace he found with his Savior, after realizing how Christ’s blood has completely atoned for all his sins. The anointed words have led countless saints as well as sinners to find their peace with God, which as the hymn declares is found by those who come under “a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins”:

Beloved, see yourself perpetually beneath the fountain of Jesus’ blood. See His blood continually cleansing you and you will lose
every guilty stain, every sense of defilement. When you believe right in the efficacy of Jesus’ ever-cleansing blood, and see how you have forgiveness of every sin through this blood, you cannot but live life with greater peace, joy, and boldness. You can go freely and boldly to the throne of grace to enjoy the Lord’s embrace, to talk to Him about anything, and to receive His help and mercy in time of need.

But Pastor Prince, doesn’t such preaching just make believers feel that it is all right to go on sinning?

Let me ask you a question: when a truly born-again believer knows that he is forgiven of all his sins, does he go, “Yippee! Now I can go sin all I want”?

I submit to you that no true believer of Jesus is looking for an excuse to sin. Many may be struggling with sin, but they are looking for a way out. They know that what they are doing is self-destructive and not glorifying to their Lord and Savior.

Oh, Pastor Prince, I know of so-and-so, who says he is under grace, and now he has left his wife to be with his mistress.

Friend, let me be the first to tell you that this person isn’t living under grace. The Word of God tells us in no uncertain terms that “sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

This Scripture shows us that when a person is truly under grace, he is not ruled by sin, nor does he happily continue to live a sinful lifestyle. Notice that it also tells us that the way to be liberated from sin’s dominion is to come under grace.

Just see how Jesus dealt with the woman caught in adultery in the Gospel of John. To the Pharisees who had flung her at His feet, He said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” One by one they dropped their stones and left. After the last of her accusers had left, Jesus asked the woman, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, Lord.”

Now, listen carefully to what Jesus said next: “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (see John 8:7–11).

Let me ask you this: did Jesus compromise on God’s holiness? Absolutely not! His first words were: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” He treated sin as something that had to be severely dealt with. Sin demands punishment, and Jesus knew that He would take on the punishment for all her sins at the cross. Sin
is
destructive. Sin tears marriages, families, and loved ones apart. And in the case of adultery, when there are children involved, it is these innocent ones who suffer the most. This is why the Bible warns strongly about the destructiveness of adultery: “Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths; for she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death” (Prov. 7:25–27).

So let me make this absolutely clear: sin is horrible! Sin comes with damaging consequences. I am against sin and that’s why I preach
God’s grace
! His grace is the only answer to overcoming sin!

Let’s learn from the account in John 8 how Jesus helped this woman out of the sin of adultery. Did He recite the law of Moses to her? Did He command her to repent and confess her sin? You and I know that Jesus didn’t do either of the above. Yet that is what is being taught as the answer to sin in many places today.

My friend, to the adulteress at His feet, our beautiful Lord Jesus simply showed her grace that she didn’t deserve. He drove her accusers away with the same law of Moses they had come to impose on her. And He gave her the gift of no condemnation, which liberated her and enabled her to “go and sin no more.” Jesus
never
endorsed her sin! But in giving her the gift of no condemnation, He showed her the way out of her sin.

Whenever I preach on the total forgiveness of our sins and assurance of salvation, someone will say,
But Pastor Prince, doesn’t the Bible say in Hebrews 10:26 that if we sin willfully, we can lose our salvation?

Many believers are taught that when they sin deliberately, they are committing what Hebrews 10:26 warns against, and that they can expect God’s “judgment, and fiery indignation” (Heb. 10:27). As a result, these believers become sin-conscious—always mindful and worried about their “willful sins,” and God’s judgment to come. When something bad does happen to them (they blow a tire on the road or contract a disease, for example), they immediately attribute it to God’s judgment of their mistakes. My dear reader, having this fear
and perpetual judgment-consciousness is not how God the Father wants us to live.

I submit to you that almost every sin we commit after being saved (the exceptions being sins we commit unconsciously) is committed willfully. So this can’t be what Hebrews 10:26 is talking about, or we should live each day expecting God’s judgment and fiery indignation! What does it mean, then, to “sin willfully”? Is it something that a believer can do? Well, let’s look at the context of Hebrews 10:26 to find out, and resolve this issue in our hearts once and for all:

The first thing we need to understand is that the book of
Hebrews
was written to the Hebrews, or Jewish people (which included believers as well as nonbelievers). Hebrews 10:26, in particular, is addressing
Jewish nonbelievers who had heard preaching on Jesus being their Messiah, but who were still going back to the temple to offer animal sacrifices. This was an insult to the Spirit of grace, because they were flatly rejecting the Lord Jesus, Who in His great grace had offered Himself as the perfect and final sacrifice for their sins at Calvary. In addressing these people, the apostle Paul (I believe that he is the writer of the book of Hebrews) compares the imperfect priesthood of the law and its repeated temple sacrifices with the perfect priesthood and once-for-all sacrifice of Christ.

For example, in Hebrews 10:1, you find Paul talking about how the animal sacrifices that the Jews offered continually at the temple could not make them perfect. In contrast Jesus, “after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God…. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:12, 14). Paul goes on to say that because their sins have been remitted through Christ’s one perfect sacrifice, “there is no longer an offering for sin” (Heb. 10:18).

In other words, Paul was telling these Jews that there was no use going back to the temple to offer repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. He was telling them that the Lord Jesus had already become their final sacrifice, putting an end to all temple sacrifices. Can you see how the verses preceding Hebrews 10:26 contrast the imperfect efficacy of the blood of the yearly temple sacrifices to remove sins, and the Lord Jesus’ one perfect sacrifice for sins forever? Paul was showing the Jews what a perfect work our Lord Jesus had accomplished.

I find it astonishing that instead of rejoicing at these faith-assuring Scriptures in Hebrews 10, some believers choose to focus on verses 26 and 27, without understanding the context in which they were written. Clearly, in context, to “sin willfully” is to commit the
specific sin
of
knowing that Jesus is the final sacrifice, and yet choosing not to accept His finished work and turning back to the temple sacrifices. It is not referring to the deliberate sins a believer commits after he or she is saved.

Paul was certainly not addressing genuine believers when he warned about sinning willfully in verse 26. When he writes, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,” he is referring to his Jewish brethren who had received “the
knowledge
of the truth,” but never received this truth (the Lord Jesus and His finished work)
into their hearts
. They heard the truth about Jesus, but chose not to depend on His perfect offering for their salvation. There is a massive difference between the two.

So Paul was in essence telling these Jews, “When you know the truth and still turn your back on the final sacrifice of Jesus, there remains no more sacrifice for sins.” And in constantly rejecting in their hearts the final sacrifice of Jesus and returning to the offering of animal sacrifices in the temple, they “trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant… a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace” (Heb. 10:29).

From the context of Hebrews 10:26, it is clear that this verse is not targeted at believers at all. Genuine believers in Christ cannot commit this sin, simply because they have already believed in Jesus’ sacrifice and put their trust in the Lord’s finished work, and they are certainly not going back to any temple to offer animal sacrifices. The verse does not refer to Christians who are “backsliding” or “going astray”; nor does it refer to Christians who sin in a moment of weakness or temptation.

My friend, don’t let anyone preach this verse out of its context and rob you of your security in Christ today. Just look at how the chapter ends: “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39). Paul states clearly that believers are not like those who have rejected the Lord Jesus to their own destruction, but are the ones who have believed and are saved. Read that verse again and truly know this in your heart: as believers, all of us have believed to the saving of our souls for all eternity. Hallelujah!