The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Conformity and Confession"
Part 5 - To See the Lamb - As God Sees Him
God loves to forgive sins and sinners.
"He delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18).
He also must remain true to His nature when offering and bestowing pardon.
"The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works" (Psalm 145:17).
Our "righteous" and "holy" Heavenly Father cannot act in any manner that conflicts with His character and nature. Thus, to pardon sin, He purposed a way to act as both "just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). He accomplished this "according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11). Before Adam and his race sinned, God determined a "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" as a sacrifice that would make possible our salvation (Revelation 13:8). Blood would flow from Christ, that forgiveness might flow through Christ unto all who receive God's grace and mercy. Pardon from sin begins in the freely given establishment of relationship with God as His born again sons and daughters. It continues in this present life for the maintenance of fellowship with our Heavenly Father in faith and faithfulness. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I John 1:17).
This most solemn and wondrous truth constitutes confession of sin in the most serious terms. To "say the same thing" about our sins - the meaning of the word "confess" - leads us to see the Lamb as our Father sees Him. Or, to see the Lamb bearing our sins, and even more wondrously, to see Him as "made to be sin for us" (I Peter 2:24; II Corinthians 5:21). The most heinous distrust and disobedience, odious as it is, flies away as far as the east is from the west when a sinner or saint avails Himself of the forgiveness in the blood of the Lord Jesus (Psalm 103:12). God sees sin through His Son, that is, in the light of who Christ is to Him, and what Christ has done to make possible the Father's merciful actions. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all… yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him… by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many" (Isaiah 53:6; 10; 11).
Do we join our Father, seeing the Lord Jesus in these most holy terms? Especially when we sin? Do we agree with God regarding the glorious efficacy of His Son that makes forgiveness and cleansing available? We must. Too much was suffered and sacrificed to leave restoration on the table. Too much hinges in our sphere of influence to fail to avail ourselves of the mercy that awaits us at the throne of grace. Too many steps of walking with God will be missed if we wallow in unconfessed sin. Too much disagreement with our Father - any disagreement - scandalizes our fellowship with Him if we fail to see the Lamb as He sees Him. We do God, others, and ourselves no favors when we wallow in failure. We honor Him, bless others, and arise to walk with Him when we agree with Him - when we confess our sins in the light of Christ the Lamb.
"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. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement."
(Romans 5:10-11)
Monday: A Truer, Deeper Repentance
Weekly Memory Verse
"Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments; for therein do I delight."
(Psalm 119:35).
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