Sin No More

When I read the Gospels, I marvel at Jesus’ patience and understanding with sinful people. No, He was not (is not) gentle with sin – He called it out for what it was. He didn’t excuse it or call it a disease or disorder. He didn’t accept it or tolerate it or celebrate it. Sin was and is appalling. It needs to be confronted – and Jesus did. Yet even while correcting sin, was always gracious to those lost souls caught in the devil’s snare. “He had compassion on them because He saw that they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt 9:6).

While walking through Jerusalem one day, Jesus passed by a pool that was believed to have healing properties when the waters were stirred by “an angel.” A helpless invalid had laid by the side of the pool for thirty-eight years, waiting and hoping for his chance to slip into the waters at just the right moment. But he was alone and never managed to get there. Along came Jesus who healed Him. At a later encounter, Jesus told the man, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you” (John 5:1-14). He healed first, then corrected. We need to take notes.

On another occasion, Jesus was teaching in the temple and the religious leaders brought to him a woman caught in adultery. But just the woman – isn’t that interesting? He defended her against her accusers – but he did not defend her actions. When Jesus confronted the men with their hypocrisy they left in shame.  After assuring her that He did not condemn her, Jesus told the woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:1-11). I have no doubt that she did. Grace and correction always work hand in hand.

I often look up words to build a devotional and that is what I was doing as I was developing a different point when God turned this in a whole other direction. When I looked up “sin no more” I found these two stories – and something else. Those same words appear again in the Scriptures when the writer of Hebrews talked about the new covenant in Christ. The Lord said, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Heb 8:12). No more. No more guilt. No more shame. No more condemnation. Because all your sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus. The affair. The abortion. The sexual immorality. The lies. That sin you don’t want to remember? You won’t have to Beloved, because in Christ your sins are “no more.”

Love much

 “First Day in Heaven” by Kerolos Safwat.

Jesus is a dinner guest at the home of a man named Simon. Simon is a Pharisee – that means he is very important in the religious community and very well respected. He is also very arrogant and looks down on people who are not as “holy” as he thinks himself to be. While Jesus sits around the finely decorated table, a woman enters the house. This woman was well known in the community as a “sinful woman.” She has earned a living among men and is an outcast among the ”good” people.  The house has fallen silent as she moves among the crowd with an alabaster jar in her hands. Every eye is on her but her eyes are fixed on one person – Jesus.

As she kneels at His feet she is weeping and her tears make tracks in the dust that clings to Him until His feet have been washed clean. She reaches up and pulls away her head covering and gently wipes His feet dry with her long, cascading hair, then kisses them. Finally, she breaks open the alabaster jar and pours the costly perfume out on those clean feet.

Simon, like all who are gathered there, is shocked that Jesus has permitted such a sinful woman to touch Him. But listen! Jesus is telling Simon a story about a good man who forgave the debts that others owed him.

“Who will love him more?” He asks.

“The one who had the biggest debt canceled,” Simon answers.

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus says.

Then he turns away from Simon to look at the woman. Do you see the love in His eyes? “She had done something very beautiful for me,” He says. “She loves much because she has been forgiven much.”  Then Jesus blesses her and says, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:36-50)

This story is your story. You have a sinful past just as she had, but Jesus has forgiven all your sins – just as he forgave hers. You love Him much because you have been forgiven much. Listen carefully to Jesus as He looks at you with love in His eyes and tells you, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Go and fulfill the things that God is calling you to do. You have been washed in the precious blood of Jesus, Beloved. You can leave your past behind and go forward in peace.

I Can’t Forgive Myself

“Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven” (Luke 7:47).

She is the town tramp with a well-earned, shameful reputation.  Women whisper about her when she walks past and pull their children close lest her degenerate nature somehow infect them.  Men look at her with disdain – on the outside at least – and lust for her on the inside.  No self-respecting religious authority would publicly be seen near her.  Yet here she is kneeling at the feet of Jesus, weeping tears onto His dusty feet, tenderly drying them with her hair and anointing them with expensive perfume – no doubt funded by her illicit acts.  She is a sinful woman.  And Jesus loves her.  He who alone has the authority to judge her, instead forgives her.  The sin she carried into the house is left in a heap at those perfumed feet and she walks out forgiven and free from the weight of her shame.

David said it beautifully – “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, who sins are covered.  Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him” (Psalm 32:1-2).  This woman is blessed.  She has been forgiven, her sins are covered and the Lord does not hold them against her anymore.  Jesus has spoken His forgiveness over her.  I cannot image that she spent the rest of her life wrapped in a shawl of shame grieving her past.  So why do we?

Through many years of serving in women’s ministry, the most oft-repeated statement I hear is: “I just can’t forgive myself.”  The weight of shame and the burden of past sins and failures seems to be the most popular accessory for Christian women today.  What if I told you that you didn’t have to carry that over-stuffed bag around anymore?  Sweet friend, if you have accepted Christ as your Savior, your past – regardless of how ugly it is – is covered by the all-sufficient, all-powerful, perfectly-cleansing blood of Jesus.  Hear what the Lord says: “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12).  If God doesn’t remember your sins, why do you need to?  They are gone. Done. Washed away.  If you continue to carry the weight of your sins around, you are saying that Jesus is not a sufficient Savior and that God is a liar.  He has declared you forgiven through the blood of Jesus – why would He say it if it were not so?  Why would you continue to hold onto something that is no longer there?

That fashionable bag of shame you are carrying is empty of all your sins.  Oh, there is still a heavy weight there, but it is not your sin – it is stones of false guilt put there by the enemy – the accuser who wants you to feel the weight of a sin that no longer exists.  He wants to weigh you down with your past so you cannot walk confidently into your future.  Beloved, do not let him steal your freedom.  But you say, “I don’t feel forgiven.  Here is where you are going to put faith in action.

I want you to grab 2 pens – one of them with red ink, and go to an empty page in the back of your Bible.  One by one, take out those stones from the bag – yes, your sexually promiscuity, the abortion, the affair, the failed marriage, the crime you committed, the stupid thing you can’t believe you did – and write it down.  Now beside every entry write in red ink “1 John 1:9.”  This verse declares, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  Confess it, thank God for His forgiveness and claim it as a truth, not just a feeling.  If something new comes to mind, write it down and add your declaration of forgiveness.  Then when the enemy tries to throw that rock back in your bag, point to your written confirmation of freedom and own what Jesus did for you. [1]

Here’s the bottom line my friend: you don’t have to forgive yourself.  God has already forgiven you through Jesus’ sacrifice.  There is nothing left to forgive.  Now pick up your empty bag, fill it with the joy of freedom in Christ and claim the new life you have been given.

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Romans 8:1.

[1] There are times when we must also confess our sins to someone who has been wronged by our actions.  Prayerfully ask God if this is something you should do.

The Alabaster Jar

“Her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much . . .” (Luke 7:47)

She heard that the Rabbi was dining nearby at the home of one of the Pharisees, probably one of many who had sneered at her in the marketplace.  She hesitated for a moment as she reached for the alabaster jar sitting in the carved-out niche in the stone wall and cast a glance around the well-appointed room.  Her wanton life had afforded her many good things, clothes made of rich fabrics, fine jewelry, the best wine and food, and the beautiful, smooth jar that contained the finest perfume money could buy.  The value of that perfume alone would support her for the rest of her life.

But it wasn’t the money that made her hesitate, it was the place she was heading and the people she would face.  It was the hostile stares and abrasive words they would throw at her – a common, sinful woman daring to enter into the home of a powerful, religious man.  She wondered how many of those piercing words would be cast by men who had enjoyed her favors not too long ago.  Some of them were her best clients, but they would sooner cast her to the dogs than acknowledge their own guilt.

Still this rabbi – there was something about him – he carried himself in a way the Pharisees never did, with authority and dignity, yet without arrogance.  He spoke of the Kingdom of God as if he alone had the key to the gate. He treated common, everyday people like they were his friends.  He did not make a public display of the good things he did like the religious leaders – and he did incredible, amazing, miraculous things like healing the sick and casting out demons. Rumor said that he even raised the widow’s son from the dead right here in Nain.  And he was kind to the poor, gentle with the lame and actually compassionate toward the people who stumbled in sin. “People like me,” she thought to herself.

When he walked through the village that day she saw him surrounded by his disciples and the townspeople; she could have never gotten through that throng of people to draw close to him, even if she dared to try.  But when he looked across all those faces and saw her, she knew he saw straight into her heart.  He saw both her sin and her sorrow, and somehow, was not repulsed by either.  That one look had stayed with her since that day, and it changed her life forever.  It was a look of intimacy, but not the kind she was used to, if you could call her nightly visits intimate at all.  No, this look went to her very soul and shook loose some dark and oppressive thing that had bound her for years.  That evening, when she turned away one of her clients, she knew she would never go back to that life again. It was as if the power of her sinful passions had been broken forever.

She shook her head, grabbed the alabaster jar and slipped out of the house.  Her pace quickened, almost as if she were moving faster so she would not change her mind.  Breathlessly she approached the perimeter of Simon’s property where a crowd had gathered around the house, watching the festivities and craning to hear every word the Rabbi spoke.  She began to weave her way through the people, holding tightly to her precious jar and the offering it contained.  She didn’t understand why it was so important to do this strange thing but she was certain a force outside of herself was driving her on, thrusting her into the suddenly silent room.  As she knelt at the foot of his couch, tears spilled from her eyes, washing the Rabbi’s feet and cleansing her own soul.

What would make this woman who had been so sinful courageously enter the home of a religious leader and risk being scorned and berated?  Why would she, who had given up her lucrative lifestyle, pour out her most valuable possession on the filthy feet of a rabbi? What had possibly taken hold of her?  In the words of Jesus: forgiveness and love.

Do you hesitate on the edge of the crowd that follows Jesus?  Are your sins and failures so great you don’t dare come near Him for fear of being exposed and rejected?  Is your soul stained and your heart broken?  Then Jesus bids you come and let your tears fall on His feet.  Bring your alabaster jar full of sin and pour it out on His feet.  Hear Him say to you, “Your sins are forgiven.  Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”[1]

[1] John 7:48, 50.