When I was studying at Bible college, a brother who had already graduated from the college used to visit us. He was always so joyful, and whenever he burst into the lecture hall he always, always greeted everyone with the words: “Shalom, saints!” And I always envied him a little for his childlike, spontaneous joy. When he said those words, the word SAINTS made me sad. I used to think then: “Yeah, right! If only he knew my thoughts and deeds — what kind of saint am I?” And now I understand that someone may be having the same thoughts. My dear ones, don’t listen to these thoughts! Drive them away — these are thoughts with which the enemy wants to strike us with unbelief in what is written in the Word of God! God has given me a revelation that I can’t wait to share with you:

What the Lord showed me is that sin is put away! This is what Scripture tells us: “but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away (athetesis: setting aside, annulling, abolishing, removing) sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” [Heb.9:26] At the very beginning of Christ’s ministry, John the Baptist says of Him: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away (removes, carries off, lifts off, takes from) the sin of the world!’” [Jhn.1:29]. The words “upon Himself”, which the Russian Bible adds here, are not in the Greek. And here is one more passage that confirms this. Let’s read only its second part. Don’t be troubled by that — I am not taking words out of context; if you keep paying attention, you will also understand the first part of this verse correctly, in the light of the New Testament: “…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” [1 Jhn.3:8].

Paul writes to the Romans: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” [Rom.5:19] How many people became sinners through Adam’s offence? All of them! In the same way, thanks to Christ’s obedience, all were made righteous. “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” [Rom.5:18] Jesus and what He did are far greater than what Adam did.

Let’s look at some verses from the Epistle to the Hebrews: “For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness (conscience) of sins.” [Heb.10:2]. Have we been purified once? Yes, we have been purified by Christ’s single offering: “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb.10:10). And we have been made perfect: “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” [Heb.10:14]. I want to stress the word FOREVER here! This is not about our deeds — we will discuss that a little later. This speaks of our inner man, whom the Lord, through Paul, tells us to put on: “…and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” [Eph.4:24] This is said about our way of thinking!

What I am writing to you now, if you believe it, will help you put on this new man. This is the spiritual mind of Romans 8:6, which brings life and peace. We sing a wonderful song during worship: “Whose report will you believe? We shall believe the report of the Lord!” Today I am asking all of us: whose words will we believe? What the Lord says about us? That we are a new creation in Christ? That we are holy and blameless? A royal priesthood, joint heirs with Christ? And if God says this about us in spite of our deeds, then would it not be unbelief and contempt for what the Lord has done for us not to accept it, and instead to believe the devil’s lie, which points to our imperfect deeds and pushes us to judge ourselves by outward deeds and condemn ourselves, rather than see ourselves as God sees us in Christ?

And when He established the new covenant, He swore not to be angry with us and not to rebuke us: “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.” — this is written in [Isa.54:9], right after chapter 53, which contains the prophecy about the Messiah, who took man’s sinfulness upon Himself and utterly destroyed it. And He also promised never, under any circumstances (that is the Greek), to remember our sins and lawless deeds!!!! “‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’” [Heb.10:16-17]. Did the Lord know that He was giving this promise to people who would still make mistakes, stumble and fall? Of course He did! That is exactly why He gave this promise: because He knew the power of what His Son did on the cross! Further on, in verse 18, it is also written: “Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” [Heb.10:18].