What did Jesus even save you from?

 Has anyone ever told you that you can't tell people that God wants to heal them? It has been explained to me from at least 3 believers that I can't tell people that, "God wants wants you healed," or especially give them a 'false hope' that they will be healed. When I hear people say things like this it disturbs everything in me. It also stirs up conflict in me when I hear people say that we are sinful beings even after we are born again  and we are always going to struggle with sin even after we come to know Jesus. How can we struggle with something Jesus takes away? Does Jesus take away our sin? John said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away our sin. What does it mean that He takes away our sin?  Are we supposed to continue dwelling on our sin? Doesn't the Bible say to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith? Let's talk about it.

I am going to use healing for an example of demonstration. Bear with me here for a moment. I hear people say that God doesn't heal everyone. I think we can all who live in the flesh see that not everyone gets healed. But I have a neighbor who was healed from cancer. It is confirmed by the doctor that he no longer has cancer and has been cancer free for a couple years now. Who would I sound like if I were to remind him daily of his past cancer and put thoughts in his mind that perhaps the cancer might come back and that maybe he isn't fully healed from cancer? What if even though it has been confirmed by the doctor that no cancer is present in him, I continued to point out that he is an unhealthy individual and he will always struggle with cancer? That would make me sound like an accuser going against the authority of the doctor. The Bible clearly says that satan is the accuser of the brethren. This is definitely not the voice of The Holy Spirit trying to remind him of death. Jesus brings life and life more abundantly. Jesus overcame death, not to hold death over your head but to remove you from the one who holds the power of death, that is satan. Satan is the one who holds the power of death. Jesus overcame the devils power. Not so that now He can hold it over us, but that we do not any longer have to fear death.  I bring this up because I see and hear people preach this not only with healing but also with salvation. If Jesus healed you from something, are you not really healed? Was Jesus blood not capable to heal you fully? Did God only love half of the world that He gave His Son? Jesus died for all, but not all will receive Him because not all will believe. I bring this up not to talk about the unbelievers. But I am specifically writing to believers in Christ Jesus. If you have put your faith in Jesus, is He able to save you from your sin? Why are we taught to always be looking for more sin as if Jesus did not save us? Its like if you gave your whole life to clean something and the person you cleaned it for went through everyday talking about how there is still a crumb here and a sock over there and even though you gave your whole life to clean the house, the one who lives there constantly is looking for what you missed. It's like how so many believers treat the work of Christ. 'Like yeah, I don't know if you spilled your blood for me or not Jesus but I still am not meeting all the commands written in your Word, so I am going to exalt your name- not because you saved me and forgave me of sin, because I still sin daily, but because I want to put more emphasis on how much of a pitiful human sinner I am and if I keep exalting you higher it will show how lowly I am.' This is not the gospel. In fact it is a mockery of Christs finished work. 

Remember in the garden when Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame? Then they ignored what God said, listened to the voice of another, ate of the tree and then what happened? Death entered and told them, "hey, you're naked!" Then they felt shame. Shame is the enemy of righteousness. They were covered with the righteousness of God until they listened to the voice of another.When they ate the fruit their eyes were opened and they could see their flesh and no longer see the righteousness of God. They went from seeing the image of God to seeing their own image, nakedness.  God is Love. Perfect Love casts out all fear. Fear is the operation of death. Love is the operation of God. We know that faith works by Love. Faith does not work through fear. But fear is what is being preached. Why? When Adam and Eve ate from the fruit and their eyes were opened, was it to the truth? NO! so why are we claiming that pointing out believers nakedness is the gospel or the truth that sets us free? Why does God say your sin and lawless deeds I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE! Why are we believing that God sent His Son to remind us of our sin, saying He saves us and then talking about how we are never going to be perfected until we die? If our faith is in Jesus, why are we even talking about ourselves as if we have to finish saving ourselves? God made a way for us not to live on this earth in our fallen nature. He gave us His Son so that through Him we can be born of a new Spirit and live by that Spirit HE GIVES US! We no longer belong to the fallen one. We belong to Jesus if we believe that HE purchased us with His Blood from the power of the fallen one- which is death. Do you believe Jesus IS the Resurrection and the Life? Now if there is no resurrection, then the dead are not raised. If you believe that Jesus is the Resurrection, do you believe that He is faithful to raise you from the dead? Then why do you boast about being in sin as if He was not capable to save you? Are you mocking Him? Are you accusing Him of not doing what He promised? If you are still living in your fallen nature and trying to be like Christ, I can see why you would focus on falling short of His Glory for you have not yet been born again of incorruptible Seed. But when we become born again in Him, we are new. Ephesians 2:4-10, "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression- it is by grace that we are saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace we have been saved, through faith- this is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God- not by our works, so that no one can boast. For we are Gods handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Gods grace is expressed  in His kindness to us in Jesus Christ. The kindness in Jesus Christ is the expression of Gods grace. Did Jesus come to expose sin? No! the Law exposed sin. JESUS SAVES us from that sin. The only thing left for the law and its commands to expose is the finished work of Christ! So maybe its a good idea on our part to let love cover a multitude of sin and let mercy triumph over judgement. That no longer will we be fixing our eyes on ourselves, but fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross despising its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Psalm 123:2, As the eyes of the servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant lick to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes are on the LORD our God until He shows us mercy.

What is mercy? It is being made alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression. That is mercy. We continue to look until we see. This is why 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal." To focus on the physical realm is to see what is temporary. It is how Adam and Eve saw when their eyes were open and they saw their physical nakedness. This is why I don't believe we are to focus on our sin or exalt our sin. IT IS TEMPORARY. We fix our eyes on the unseen, which is forever. Hebrews 10:14 says, "because by a single offering He has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified." Are you being sanctified? Then HE HAS MADE YOU PERFECT FOREVER! Forever is what is eternal. Your sin is temporary. Your perfection in Christ is forever. The only way a preacher should ever preach that he is not perfect is IF HE HAS NOT YET BEEN BORN AGAIN OF INCORRUPTIBLE SEED. When Jesus said, Be perfect even as my Heavenly Father is perfect, it was a declaration. When Jesus listed the Be Attitudes, its a declaration. The same as when God said, "LIGHT BE!" The light was. The light did not try to do what God said. What God said was! Its the same when Jesus spoke. What He says IS! Already!! HE is not telling us to see if we can. He is declaring, Whom I set free IS FREE. When Jesus said YOU ARE HEALED- BELIEVE IT. When Jesus says HE forgives you of sin, BELIEVE HIM. The only reason people go to hell is because they don't believe in Jesus. Do you believe Jesus came to save you from sin and reconcile you to God? Do you believe He comes a second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting on Him? If He saved you from sin, why are you still trying to prove your sin? How do you believe He took away your sin but you are still hanging onto sin? Either you believe He took it away and He has your attention or you do not believe He took it away and your attention is on what you are doing. What you are doing is temporary. What He is doing is eternal. Where are your eyes fixed? Did Jesus finish it? Or  are you trying to finish it by the means of your flesh? Do you believe death will be swallowed up by life? Where is that life? Is it the Life of Christ on the inside of you? Are you the temple, the dwelling place for the Holy Spirit? Is He who lives in you the Resurrection and the Life? Is there sin in Him? Is He in you? Luke 17:21 says, "The Kingdom of God is IN YOU!" Christ in you is the ETERNAL Life that swallows up TEMPORARY  death that is your flesh. 

For in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed- a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY FAITH. 

Just as the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel- the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Where is heaven? It is the Spirit of God. And it is in you according to Luke 17:21. The wrath of God is being revealed from inside of you when you try to take away the authority of the truth. Adam and Eve did this when they listened to the voice of another. The gave authority to another voice. The other voice opened their eyes to shame, time and the temporary realm. Jesus says, My sheep know my voice and the voice of another they will not follow. He is the good shepherd. He leads you. He does not leave you and He is the one who finishes, who completes that which He began in you. He saves you from the wrath of God. The wrath that burns against you when you suppress truth. Jesus is the Truth. He is the risen Son of God. The only one who removed sin and the guilt of sin. Not so that we can stay in our fallen nature, but in order to raise us up in Him where we are NOW seated in heavenly realms. Those who live by faith already have this and are in agreement with truth because those who live by faith do not walk by sight. 

The sight for Adam and Eve was the shame of their nakedness. But for those who live by faith, our sight is fixed on Jesus. The Perfect Lamb of God who takes away our sin and saves us from the wrath of God. God is just and He justifies those who put their faith in His Son, Jesus. He is the first and the last. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the one who finishes what He started. He will raise you up at the last Day if you have not trusted in yourself but in Him.