The 4th Dimension

His love is so deep it compelled Jesus to carry our sins to hell.

His love is so High it caries us to heaven.

His love is so wide it spreads through all the world to enter our hearts.

His love is so long it lasts FOREVER.

That You May Not Sin

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin" (1 John 2:1)

What words did John write that give you power over sin? Only 2 verses before, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1: 9) one of the most misused scriptures in the Bible. Grace people turn this verse into a license to sin saying, "ask God, He'll forgive you," which it does not say. The holiness movement use it as a fire escape confessing real and imaginary sins every moment of the day fearing hell if they die with one unconfessed sin. Not.

"You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;" (Psalms 45: 7a) Confess that you hate your sin even if you don't and soon you will. Agree with God about your sin, "He is faithful and righteous to forgive," and He will also "cleanse you from all unrighteousness." Forgive and cleanse? Forgiveness saves you from hell. Cleansing washes the iniquity from your heart.

"Confess our sins" was written "that you may not sin." Confess means speak same and agree with not ask or admit. Say what God says,"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him," (2 Corinthians 5: 21). When we say what God says we do what God did nailing our sin to the cross.

The fact is "you nailed" Jesus "to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death" (Acts 2: 23) when you sinned. If you were there who would you be? Peter, who denied Him; John, stood silently as the crowd yelled "crucify Him." Would you have been in the throng yelling? A priest inciting the people? Or Pontius Pilate? You might as well be a Roman Soldier pounding the nail through His wrist. Your sin killed Him. Say out loud with your mouth, "He became my sin. I nailed it to the cross." then sin will be a thing of the past. It will be harder for you to sin than to be holy.

"8 If we say that we have no sin," "10 If we say that we have not sinned, (1 John 1: 8a & 10a) Sin is now a thing of your past.

Forgiveness

Forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32b)

The road to heaven is paved with forgiveness, the most difficult thing we are required to do.

When people sin against us it hurts; making us angry; and sometimes, it grows into bitterness. Some react to anger by retaliating against the person who hurt us. This only escalates the problem because we always pay back more than we received. Others respond by hitting the wall or throwing things, which can hurt ourselves and our property. Still others burry it by holding it back which allows it to grow into bitterness. Few forgive the wrong immediately because we Don't know how.

The key to learning how to forgive is found in these words: "forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." We are created in the image of God. God gets angry. We get angry. The difference is how we appease our anger. God saved his anger until Jesus "became sin", (2 Corinthians 5:21) then through the Roman Soldiers He spent his wrath by beating Him and hanging Him on the cross, "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him," (Isaiah 53: 10). God looked ahead to that time to forgive David's sin and He looks back to that hour in order to forgive us our sins.

We need to do the same. We need to spend our wrath on Jesus, the one who became the sin that was committed against us. I did that once. My employees wasted a whole day worth of time. While praying I told Jesus I can't forgive. He said "Take your anger out on me," so I cussed Him out for 15 minutes. When my anger was spent, He asked me "Are you finished?" I told him I was, then He said, "I'm dying on the cross right now for that sin!" "Wow. I can forgive those guys. Its easy. You paid for it." "They don't have to!"

Don't make them pay for what has already been paid.

When we refuse to forgive we are saying Jesus died for my sins but not for your sins. "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).

JESUS Paid for All Sin. Even the Sin Committed against You. NOW, YOU CAN FORGIVE.