We cannot be more than forgiven

We cannot be more than forgiven. That is why Jesus died for us on the cross of Calvary, to truly make the way for our sins to be taken away. The old covenant could not do that, and so the conscience could never be completely relieved under that covenant: "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins... For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb. 10:1,2,4). No, the blood of bulls and goats could NOT truly remove the people's sins from their hearts and consciences, but the blood of Jesus Christ does indeed do exactly that, as it is written: "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh [a symbolic remission]: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:13,14). So when we come to Jesus truly repenting of our sins and believing on him for his forgiveness, he literally takes our sins away and thereby clears our conscience of sin. We receive this glorious new birth experience by faith in Jesus Christ and his shed blood, and by faith in Jesus Christ and his shed blood alone! Here is what Jesus said about having faith in him: "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. [But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.] (Jn. 7:38,39). Jesus was 'glorified' when he went back to heaven and offered himself before his Father for the remission of our sins: "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God... For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us" (Heb. 10:12,14,15). So again we see that after Jesus offered himself in heaven he sent back the holy Ghost as he said he would send to those who believe, after he was glorified. He also said in another place that he could not give the Spirit to his followers until he went back to heaven (Jn. 16:7). And as the quoted scripture says, it is the holy Ghost that is the witness of the remission of our sins, as the scripture also affirms again: "And such [sinners] were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (I Cor. 6:11).

This all goes to the final instructions that Jesus gave to his followers BEFORE he went back to heaven: "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1:4,5). Jesus began baptizing with the holy Ghost only AFTER he went back to heaven and offered himself once for all, and sat down at the right hand of God to begin his mediation of the new covenant between God and men (Heb. 9:24-26; I Tim. 2:5). So taking us back to my opening point, just what IS the new covenant? "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins: (Mat. 26:28). The new testament or new covenant IS the remission of our sins. Again I say, that is why Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, and that is the maximum that we can attain to in our lives; meaning to have our sins taken away by means of being born again of the Spirit of God (Jn. 3:5). Now I want to go back to the point of our conscience being cleared by the true remission of our sins. If our conscience is clear it is only because we no longer have sin dwelling in us. There is no other possibility. The conscience cannot be fooled. Man can choose to block his conscience out and thereby be fooled by his own mind, but the conscience itself will always tell the truth if we choose to listen to it. This takes me back to the baptism of the Spirit by Jesus, and what Peter said about this experience later in his life: "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (I Pet. 3:21). Again, the baptism that saves us [from our sins] is not the baptism that immersed the body, but rather it is the baptism that clears our conscience as Peter says here; which is the baptism that came as the result of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Peter also plainly stated in this verse. Water baptism clears no one's conscience of sin because it doesn't remove sin from the heart, and water baptism was in effect BEFORE Jesus died and rose again. Peter was speaking here of the baptism that Jesus died and rose to provide us with, which is the same baptism that his forerunner said was his purpose for coming (Mk. 1:7,8). Oh yeah, it's also the same baptism that Jesus told his followers to wait for just before he ascended to heaven in their sight. Yes indeed, it is certainly the baptism of the holy Ghost with the sign of speaking with other tongues that takes our sins away and gives us new birth and new life IN Christ (Acts 2:4; Rom. 6:3,4; Gal. 3:27; I Cor. 12:13; II Cor. 5:17).

So I say again that we cannot be more than forgiven, and we cannot be more than "a new creature" in Christ. What we CAN be is that we can REMAIN forgiven, and we can remain a new creature in Christ. The only way we can leave that first estate is to sin and not repent. The scripture plainly says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I Jn. 1:9). You may note that there is no fine print or hidden clauses in that verse. It truly does stand alone, and it needs no interpretation. It simply means what it says. If we sin, we need to confess our sin and ask forgiveness, and Jesus deems it 'just' to forgive us of our sins. It is just that he forgives us because he paid the full price for all sins of all time at the cross of Calvary, and there is no sin or degree of sins that can equal the price he paid. If you killed ten people needlessly yesterday, and you come to a true repentance about it today and ask Jesus to forgive you, the price he paid is plenty big enough for it to be a just thing for him to forgive you. If you are forgiven you have a clean slate, period. If we're forgiven of something small, it is the same forgiveness as for something big. It still includes a clear conscience [if we believe] and a clean, new slate. The final element of the point I'm making here is this: The baptism of the holy Ghost IS NOT 'an extra blessing' or 'secondary experience' for someone who is already born again. IT IS the new birth, period; and the clear evidence of the scriptures show that it is. It has been traditionally taught that the holy Ghost baptism was given for power for ministry, because Jesus told his disciples, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). The truth is, there is NO SUCH THING as a powerless believer or a powerless Gospel. Jesus said the following: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow THEM THAT BELIEVE; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mk. 16:16,17). Note that Jesus said it is "them that believe" that will do these miraculous works, not "those who are endowed with special power for ministry." Also as we have seen from the scriptures, those who believe, according to Jesus, are those whom HE baptizes with his Spirit. So again it is the baptism of the Spirit that he speaks of here in Mark that those who believe will be baptized with, and it is that new birth experience that qualifies us to do the works he mentioned there. Also it is the baptism of the Spirit that he speaks of here in Mark 16 that saves us from our sins, even as Peter said, and as we've seen here from the Bible. So again I say, and this time with ample scriptural affirmation, that we cannot be more than forgiven. Being forgiven gives us a clean slate and joins us to the Lord, and Jesus is all of our power, all of our love, all of our truth, all of our peace, all of our wisdom, all of our ministry; indeed all of our everything (I Cor. 6:17; Gal. 3:27). I believe that says it for now. God bless.