DOCTRINAL STUDIES Lesson 8 His Power to Save Men from Sin
This series of Biblical studies is based on notes written by the late Rev. A. Donald Magaw over 50 years of his ministry and were compiled and edited by the late Donald A. Magaw.
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 to be 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 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 abides…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)