His power to save men from sin has been proven in the lives of all who have trusted Him. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, it was for a definite purpose: to pay the price of sin. Man had sinned and had sold himself a slave to the devil. But God’s own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, shed His precious Blood to pay the price of sin and to redeem the slave. That the price was acceptable unto God was proved by “the resurrection of His Body from the tomb.” “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10). “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Being saved from sin does not mean simply that the past is blotted out by the
Blood; this is only part of it. Salvation includes being saved from the power of
sin now, and eventually from the very presence of sin. We might say that there
are three aspects of salvation.
The first great aspect is that He saves us from the guilt of sin. That takes
care of the past. The Blood of Christ applied to a man’s heart cleanses that
heart from all sin and makes it as white in God’s sight as if there never had
been any sin. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). The
effect of past sin may continue, however; for a sinful act, once committed,
cannot be called back. One of the characteristics of sin is that its results
live on. For example, that while yet in your sins you had killed a man. Upon
your acceptance of His Son as your Savior, God would forgive the sin; but He
would not restore life to man you murdered. Whatever the effects of sin upon
ourselves and upon others live on, the sin itself, as far as any guilt before
God is concerned, is as though it had never been. This assurance we have from
God’s Word: “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a
cloud, thy sins” (Isaiah 44:22);
Colossians 2:13, 14). Your “…sins and iniquities
will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). As far as
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm
102:12).
It is said that we live in an expanding universe—that the east and west are
constantly moving farther away from each other. I hope that is true, for it
means that by the grace of God my sins are further away from me today than they
were yesterday and that they will continue to be put farther and farther behind
me. How wonderful that God, when He forgives sin, forgets sins; that when we put
our trust in His only begotten Son, Whom He sent to atone for our sins, the
record becomes absolutely spotless and the page clean; and that at the
judgments, believers will not have to answer for the guilt of sin. There will be
judgment for reward, of course, at which time out works will be judged (Romans
14:10, I Corinthians 3:11-15;
I Corinthians 4:5; Colossians
3:24, 25, II Timothy 4:8;
Revelation 22:12). “Every man’s work shall be made
manifest …; and the fire shall try…of what sort it is. If any man’s work
abide…he shall receive a reward” (I Corinthians 3:13, 14).
But that is an altogether different matter. Our sins have been judged at
Calvary; our past is blotted out. “Being now justified {just-as-if-I’d never
sinned, “someone has aptly defined it} by his blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through him” (Romans 5:9); for “there is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).
The second aspect of His saving us from sin has to do with the present, He saves
us from the power of sin in this present world. God’s will is that Christians
seek to be perfect, even as the Father in Heaven is perfect (Matthew
5:48); and He can release us from the power of sin in our lives. He gives
us the definite promise that sin shall not have dominion over us (Romans
6:14). A drunkard, by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, can be
forgiven of his sins and have his past blotted out. Moreover, if he trusts God
for it, he can have victory over the “thirst for drink” so that he no longer is
bound by its power. So also with the man who was unclean: he can be made clean
and given the victory over his sinful appetite through the days that follow.
Having been crucified with Christ, the life now lived in the flesh is lived by
the faith of the Son of God, Who loved us, and gave Himself for us (Galatians
2:20), Whose Blood cleanseth us from all unrighteousness (I
John 1:9), and Whose Word abiding in us makes us strong to overcome the
wicked one (I John 2:14).
Finally, His saving power not only frees us from the guilt of the past, and
gives us power to overcome in the present; but eventually it also will free us
from the presence of sin. In this world we are ever in sins’ presence. We cannot
even get away from its “smell.” As we walk down the street and pass a saloon,
the fumes come through the open door and we smell the odor of sin. But in the
new Heaven and the new earth, we will be freed from even the presence of sin.
Someday all whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will be taken to
the place He has been preparing (John 14:1)—the
place where there is no sin and where “there shall in no wise enter into it any
thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie” (Revelation
21:27). Whoever is “not found written in the book of life…the fearful,
and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murders, and whoremongers, and
sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars; shall have their part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone…where the devil that deceived them…and the beast
and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and
ever” (Revelation 21:8; 20:10,
15). But we shall see Him, shall reign with Him,
and be like Him; “for we shall see him as he is” (I John
3:2; Revelation 22:5). No wonder that when
in the new world God wipes away the tears from the eyes of the redeemed, He
never has to do so again. Tears and sorrow are a result of sin; and there is no
sin there. “There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away” (Revelation
21:4).
The invitation to salvation is open to all. “The Lord is not…willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9 ). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life (John 3:16). “The Spirit and the bride say,
Come. And let him that is athrist come, and whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:17)