Why did Jesus die? It’s a simple question that will get you a myriad of different answers. There is also another question that follows along with it… since He died, what does that mean for you today? It’s amazing that something so simple and so foundational to this thing known as Christianity, can be so confused and so misunderstood. But answering these questions is essential to living the live that Christ truly wants us to live… and it may not be what you expect – it probably isn’t what you have been told or what you have believed.
You see, Jesus didn’t die just for your old identity to endure – for you to remain a “sinner” and just suffer here on the earth as a broken vessel hoping and waiting for everything to be made well one day when you finally go to Heaven.
No, Jesus died for your remove that old identity from you and to give you a completely new identity, and to place His Spirit back inside of you, to indwell you fully and to give you His righteousness and a proper place as a beloved child of God.
This is the truth that I want to share with you today, and as you receive this truth, you will be able to enjoy new levels of union with Christ and enjoy the new identity that you have in Him.
So today we are studying the finished work of Jesus Christ, from the perspective of daily life – what does the finished work really mean for you today, right now, and every moment of your day-to-day life?
And I want to repeat what I said in the opening, because this cuts right to the heart of the matter: because most people believe that the finished work of Christ, His sacrifice, His death and His resurrection, don’t really have much effect (if any) in this physical world right now. Instead they believe that His finished work, simply allows you to reserve a ticket for the heaven bus when it comes, and until that time you are just supposed to hang-out on this earth and endure all of the suffering and pain, because you can’t really do anything about it, but when that heaven bus comes, you will be all set! And in the mean-time, people are left weak, powerless, and still with their old identity of sin, and feeling dirty and incomplete
That’s the way that most people see the finished work of Christ, and that’s the way that a lot of churches present it as well. And then on top of that, in many places, these same people are constantly being reminded of their sin week-after-week, and beaten down with guilt and shame; and people have been so deceived that they think this is right!
I have heard countless comments from people just like this: they say things such as “Boy the pastor was really on fire today! I was really convicted!” – “wow his message really hit me hard, he must’ve been reading my mail!” – or, “Man! He was so on-point, the entire room was convicted!”
And in each of these statements they were all using convict in the negative sense, and they thought that this was “good preaching”.
All of this kind of preaching does the enemies job for him – reminding people of their sin, and never acknowledging the finished work of Christ: reminding people of their righteousness in Him.
Instead, these precious people whom Jesus Christ has washed with His own blood, and suffered immensely to free them from bondage and curse; these people are actually kept bound in their soul, because of the constant guilt, and shame and the reminder of their sins and old nature, due (in many cases) to wrong teaching which is not emphasizing the truth of Christ and His finished work, but instead emphasizing man’s works and sins.
This is a real problem that is affecting millions of people; and I’m mentioning it here because it directly deals with the topic of our study: what does the finished work mean to you?
Very pertinent to this question is Hebrews 10:1-2:
“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.”
Contrary to what we often think, the Law through its many things (its sacrifices, its offerings, its ordinances) could never make anyone perfect – although many today try to use the Law to obtain perfection – which demonstrates how confused we’ve become. But take notice of verse 2…
If the worshippers had been purged, they should’ve had no more conscience of sins!
Now this is very interesting! Because here we are after Jesus Christ has offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice, one-for-all, for all time, and have been completely sanctified and perfected by Him (as verse 10 and 14 of this same chapter says) and we are constantly being told to remember our sins, and we are strengthening our sin-consciousness instead of letting the perfect sacrifice of Christ remove it!
We are hanging-on to something which Jesus paid to remove!
At what point are we actually freed from the bondage and remembrance of sin? Some people would say that it’s when we die and go to heaven… but that’s not what the verse says! The verse says that you are freed from sin-consciousness when you are purged (cleansed), and that happened when Jesus sacrificed Himself for you! The time is now. You are not waiting to be cleansed sometime in the future, you are clean right now, now receive it. Own it. Accept your identity now!
People think that good preaching is supposed to keep us sin-conscious, but these scriptures actually say that we should be conscious of the eternal perfect sacrifice of Jesus and have our conscience completely cleared of sin by Him. So in-fact when we actually hang onto our sin-consciousness, we are resisted the reality of the finished work of Christ by failing to see ourselves in our new identity in Him.
I can’t even begin to tell you how many people I’ve talked with (and this isn’t me speaking from a place of arrogance, it’s just a fact), but I’ve spoken with plenty of people who read their Bible to get knowledge and to look for checklists and to apply behavioral principles, instead of reading to see Jesus, what He has accomplished, and who they truly are in Him. You see, it’s not really about learning Bible trivia, or behavior lists or principles – it’s about Jesus, and the relationship, your union with Christ and your identity in Him.
I’ve said this before, but Jesus didn’t sacrifice Himself so that you could pray a “sinner’s prayer” just to go to heaven one day when you die, but all the while still live with the identity of a sinner here on the earth… that’s ridiculous nonsense that has kept many people confused, defeated and in bondage.
Jesus died so that your old identity could be removed and you could take on your new identity; the identity of a beloved child of God – that’s not something left unfinished… in-fact He declared that it was finished up on that cross! You are a beloved child of God right now. Your old identity is dead and gone and your new identity is here and now.
2nd Corinthians 5:17:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Behold, look and see, old things are passed away, they are dead and gone. Behold, look and see, all things are become new.
Romans 6:11 says:
“Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Reckon, is an accounting term. It is a statement of “now fact”, present reality. Reckon yourself dead indeed to sin, that is the noun of sin, not the verb. This is talking about the person, the place, the identity of sin; your old identity of being a “dirty, rotten sinner”. Reckon yourself, account yourself to be utterly dead to that identity.
Instead, reckon yourself to be alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
That is your new identity. That is who you are today in Christ right now. This is what the finished work of Christ has given to you… a completely new identity in Him. An identity of victory, an identity of peace, an identity of absolute union with Christ, with His righteousness, holiness, and His Spirit of power, love and a sound mind permanently living inside of you.
I encourage you today, live your identity in Christ now. The finished work of Christ, today for you, means so much more than what we typically think. For you today, the finished work of Christ means an entirely new identity, one free from the bondage and remembrance of sin. Freedom from the guilt and shame, and the condemnation that we are so ready to embrace. And instead to embrace Christ, and allow Him to embrace you, and indwell you!
Receive this, hear this, and live this every single day.
Be blessed.
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