forgiveness brings freedom

“If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. . . . So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (Jn 8:31,32 & 36)


There seems to be a controversy in the body of Christ about freedom. Jesus sets a man free, yet each time he needs further sanctification there are ministers who want him to look at his past cleansed sins, as if Jesus’ blood was insufficient. Men want to find the reason for sin; Jesus wants to build on the freedom from sin.

The seed of examination of the past is a weed seed. Teachers who depend on their own understanding will plant this seed in the hearts of their listeners. The plant that grows from this seed depletes faith; lack of faith in Jesus’ ability to heal and set free then results in the fruit of self-effort, repetitive prayers of repentance and repetitive forgiveness of others, leading to dead hope. When men think salvation is in their own hands or the hands of other men, they begin a hopeless futile effort of self-improvement. However, salvation is from God, not men (Rev 7:10).

Men do not always sin because Jesus failed to cleanse their past. Neither is healing always based on their need to forgive someone. Undermining Jesus’ power, and the sincerity of a man’s forgiveness will render him without hope, and make him sterile and ineffective in the kingdom of God. Man’s forgiveness was meant to be powerful, like God’s is. You see, if God forgives our sins and sets us free, He also gives us the power to forgive others their sins and set them free.

“If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive t hem, they are not forgiven.” (Jn 20:23)

The enemy accuses the brethren of retained sins because forgiveness is so very powerful. If men want to be God-like, this is the place to begin. It is false brethren who keep men in bondage to the idea that their sins are not cleansed. They do not teach about the power of God’s forgiveness but seek to control men’s need of them for their approval (see 2 Tim 3:6-7). Those who learn from them can never bear good fruit from the lessons they receive.

Paul did not dwell in his past, neither did he offer us endless examinations of the reasons he had for giving his consent for the persecution of the saints. Instead, he admonished us all to “press on”, or go forward, leaving the past behind (Phil 3:13-14). We are to leave what is under Christ’s blood behind us, and be further molded, day-by-day, into the image of the Son of God. We also read that we should “therefore . . . leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, . . . “. (Heb 6:1) This is because “The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse(s) our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.” (Heb 9:14).

If a man’s teaching causes men to be in bondage, unable to serve God, then that minister is not an agent of God. If that minister always finds fault with men’s pasts and holds out no hope for their service to God, he is unwittingly an agent of satan. Let us look at Isaiah 61 for God’s hope in what the power of Christ can do in a man. After Jesus sets a man free, comforts and heals him, that man is to be called an oak of righteousness, to display His splendor. God will use that man to rebuild, restore & renew. He will be called a priest and a minister of God. There are many good things in Isaiah 61 about how God’s power in men will change them. Who are we, then, to say they cannot change . . . to bind them to their past?

Paul came to the conclusion that we should “regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”( 2 Cor 5:16-17). Jesus’ goal is that we should “become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21) Cannot He do it? Of course He can. And we can have faith in His work in us and in our fellow believer.

Let the ministers of God build on what Christ has accomplished in their fellow believers. God has set men free from their past and given them freedom. Let us see that work as the foundation to build further ministry on and not return to reasons for present infirmities, weaknesses, and failings. Let us build on freedom, and not put our brethren in further bondage. Faith in God has to begin with faith in what He alone can accomplish in us. Amen.