For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh. Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. (Heb.10:1-4)
What incredible verses of scripture these are. May the Lord forbid that we would ever become too familiar with them. The sacrifices under the old covenant had to be offered every year so the sins of the people could be covered for the coming year. The sacrifices themselves kept them in sin consciousness because they were coming next year which meant they could never be free from sin. There is something the sacrifices could not do and that was make the worshippers perfect. In saying this we are clearly informed that perfection of the conscience is the goal. Of course if they could make the worshippers perfect then the sacrifices would have ceased to be offered because they would have accomplished their goal.
The verses above tell us something else that is wonderful. They tell us that if we had one perfect sacrifice it would only need to be offered once and we, having been cleansed, would have no more consciousness of sins. The fact that the believers under the old covenant needed cleansing every year tells us that a perfect sacrifice offered once for all would mean that we would have no more consciousness of sins and not for a year only but forever. This is incredible. There is no other word for it. Hallelujah! Once cleansed we would never need to be cleansed again because our conscience would be perfect for ever. Under the new covenant there is no more consciousness of sins for anybody. If you have the consciousness of even one sin then you are still under the old covenant.
And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: but He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Heb. 10:11-14)
It gets better. We have already seen that the old testament sacrifices could never make us free of the consciousness of sins. Now we are told that those same sacrifices could never take sins away. Now we can see that the sins were always present and were just covered over. Little wonder then that they could never be free from sin. Perhaps they thought about it often and sighed saying “If only our sins could be taken away forever, wouldn’t that be the most wonderful thing”.
Wonderful indeed because we can see from the verse above that this is precisely what Jesus has done for us. Our sins have been taken away forever and this being the case what else could it mean but that our conscience would be void of the consciousness of sins. A perfect consciousness to walk in where there is no such thing as sin. You might be surprised to hear this but I ask, what else could it mean? We can know that sin exists in the world and with other people but if we believe that it is still exists with us then it cannot be said that we have a conscience void of sin.
In the eyes of God our father sin has nothing more to do with us because Jesus took all sin and sins away forever by becoming sin on the cross. A conscience that knows about sin and is watching out for it has a consciousness of sins and is not standing in grace. It is the conscience of the natural man and not the spiritual man. The mind of the spiritual man is set on things above and is not mindful of sin or sins at all. If Jesus really has taken sins away forever how can I be thinking that they are still here. If they have been taken away as many scriptures say then they are gone and cannot even touch me.
On the morrow he (John the baptist) seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
Him who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him. (2 Cor. 5:21) Let us speak plainly. Jesus became sin and died as sin on the cross. Sin is dead and no longer exists because He took it away to the grave and left it there for those who believe in Jesus. If Jesus wants us to be mindful of sin and watch out for it in case it ensnares us then He did not take it away and the scripture has not been fulfilled. We will have to find another saviour who can do a better job at taking sins away. Glory to God and praise the living Jesus. I am not looking for another saviour. My saviour is perfect. Let us state it again. A believer in Christ having once been cleansed should have no more consciousness of sins. If you need to hear it in different words here they are. A believer in Christ having once been cleansed need not be cleansed ever again.
Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean. (John 13:10)
How could we possibly have, and be the righteousness of God and walk in sin consciousness at the same time. In the righteousness of God there is no such thing as sin and we are the righteousness of God in Christ where our father has placed us. As He is, even so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17) You only have to ask yourself if Christ is conscious of sin or even aware of the existence of it. If He is then so are we in this world. If He is not conscious of sins then neither are we in this world.
But now once at the end of the ages hath He been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Heb. 9:26)
And ye know that He was manifested to take away sins; and in Him is no sin. (1 John 3:5)
There it is again. Sin has been put away once and for all never to be mentioned again. If our heavenly father ever brought up the issue of your sin with you He would have to apologise to Jesus for bringing it back. It could only mean one thing, Jesus died for nothing. The Jesus we know according to the flesh is dead. He will never be seen again. You can be absolutely sure of that. He who knew no sin became sin and died as sin on the cross. He was put to death in the
flesh and made alive in the spirit of Christ. The earthly Jesus will never be seen again. He is a new creation never to die again just like us. He was sown in dishonour and raised in glory.
Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. (1 Cor. 1:30)
A little question is needed here. Is there any sin or consciousness of sin in the new creation? What do you think? It can only mean one thing. If the word of God is true and I am a new creation then I cannot sin and be in him at the same time but the scripture says that we are in Him. Glory to God, sin itself has been taken away and not just the ones that were on my account or that I committed but all the sins of every person who ever lived. If you believe that sin is still around then you will certainly meet it and it will overcome you because you are not believing on the son of God and what He has accomplished. Be careful that you are not calling Him a liar.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in Him: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning His Son. (1 John 5:10)
The following verses tell us some of the witness which God has borne regarding His son. Let us make sure we agree with Him lest we be found to be calling Him a liar.
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:8-11)
According to these verses Jesus died to sin once and now has no more relationship with it and the life He is now living He is living to God. Isn’t it great for Jesus that He has no more relationship with sin. He is not thinking of sin. It is never in His thoughts. He is not looking for sin to see where it is or anything like that. He is consumed with His father’s business. This simply means that He has no more relationship with sin. That would be fine except for one thing and the
one thing is this. The scripture says that we should consider ourselves to be in the exact same position. We died once and are now dead and we cannot die again. Glory to God. I used to think that my sin or sins were taken away when I confessed them and received forgiveness. This is what I believed the scriptures said and this is what I experienced. Every time I confessed my sin to the Lord I experienced His forgiveness and cleansing and I must say it was wonderful to be forgiven no matter how many times I sinned. Each time He was faithful and just to forgive me. I am certain that I used up my “seventy times seven” which Jesus alluded to. My experience completely agreed with my beliefs which I received from the word. Because my experience confirmed my understanding of the word I became established in a stronghold and The Lord had difficulty in breaking through and showing me that He had accomplished much more than I was believing Him for.
During all this time as a Christian I was considering myself dead to sin but in doing that I now realise that I was still in a relationship with it. My very act of resistance to sin or thinking about it in some way meant I was still in relationship to it. I considered it to be my business to believe that I was dead to sin. Glory to God He finally broke through my hard heart and showed me that a dead person cannot consider themselves to be dead to sin. They are dead to sin. They can only believe that they are raised and live their life onto God. By having a relationship with sin I was keeping it alive instead of ignoring it and letting it die. Praise the living Jesus. I discovered by His grace toward me that He didn’t just take my sins away when I confessed them. He had taken them away long before I was born and because He loved me and looked upon me in His amazing grace as holy and blameless He was in relationship with me all the time. It was I who considered myself unclean and departed from Him in unbelief. In grace, His heart never changed toward me at all, no, not in the slightest. Hallelujah! The very thing which I considered to be faith was in truth unbelief. The holy Spirit began to bear witness with me in power when I agreed with what the word was really saying. And so it is with everything.
I was condemning myself and finding fault with myself while listening to every accusation the Devil could throw at me. When I found out from the revelation of the Spirit that my father was not condemning me or finding fault with me at all even while I was in sin I experienced a glorious liberty within and moved into a wide open space in His righteousness. At last, a perfect conscience devoid of guilt, condemnation and accusation. Glory to Jesus. God has set everybody free from sin, they have not yet entered into the realisation of it. The first step is to be born again. I had been living in Romans seven and reading Romans eight thinking that was where I was. The following illustration might help to explain. The following story might help someone who is struggling with what I am saying. Imagine that there was this man who was very happily married to his wife for 30 years or more. They did everything together and went everywhere together. They were very close. Then one day His wife dies in an accident and he is completely distraught with grief. He thinks his life is over and does not know what to do. After he buries his wife he visits her grave every day. He remembers all the things they used to do together and relives them over again in his mind and in this way he gets great comfort. This goes on for weeks and then months and finally for years. He cannot let her go which is very understandable but his friends are becoming very concerned for him. They decide to get together and encourage him very gently to get involved in life again but he can hear none of it. His life is taken over with visiting her grave and all the places they used to go together and thinking about her every day. His friends realise they have a situation on their hands and decide to take a strong line with him. They confront him gently and tell him that his wife is dead and that he must get on with living his life. They try to inform him that he is not letting his wife die by keeping her alive in his mind and not letting her rest in peace. They also tell him that she would not want him to be doing the things he is doing and that if she could tell him she would want him to let her go and get on with his life. This simple truth completely released him and he woke up from his blindness. It is the same with us and sin. Sin is dead. It was taken away and buried with Christ in the grave. It no longer has any life or power. It can only live if we give it the life that it needs to survive with us. We have no more relationship with it so we lay it aside and we don’t try to overcome it or resist it or wonder why it is so strong or so tempting. It is not our business because it has been dealt with while we look away from it unto Christ.
To the pure all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. (Titus 1:15)
There is no mixture or doublemindedness in Christ. His wisdom is first pure and if our conscience is tainted with any thought of sin at all it is defiled and our minds will be defiled also. We will not be able to see clearly enough to walk as a new creature in Christ and we will be in the flesh.
This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, And upon their mind also will I write them; then saith He, And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more (Heb.10:16-17)
Under the new covenant we have been declared righteous, holy and blameless even while we are up to our necks in sin. Because of what Jesus has done our sins are not being imputed to our account for as long as we live. Our past, present and future sins (if any) have all been taken away in Christ. Our debt has not just been cancelled up to the moment we get born again. No! No! No! It is because our debt has been cancelled once and forever that we got born again. Otherwise it would be a mixture of grace and law which would not be grace at all. This sounds like madness but it is this very thing that sets me free from the power of sin. Glory to God again, hallelujah. We will only experience this deliverance into righteousness if we stand upon the truth and refuse to be moved away from it. You will feel like you are believing the lie of all lies and your five senses will be screaming at you but continue to stand and the accusations will be silenced. This is your fight of faith.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.(1 Tim. 6:12)
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. (1 John 5:10)
This is what it means to believe the testimony which God has given concerning His son. Dear brother or sister in Christ. If God has forgotten your sins and has no more consciousness of sin then why should you have any consciousness of sin? You will do well to pay attention to His word until the day dawns and the daystar rises in your heart. AMEN.
In His Love, Noel Tuite
www.ekklesiadrogheda.com 