The quest of the ages is the desire to get rid of sin consciousness. I would even go as far to say that sin consciousness has given birth to all the major religions of the world. It’s effects have even influenced the strongest of well-meaning, faithful believers for generations.
What is sin consciousness? It’s an ever-present awareness of sin, guilt, fear, condemnation or inferiority. Sin consciousness holds many in bondage and destroys faith, robbing believers of fellowship with the Father! Man’s cure for this misery always falls short and only increases the dilemma. As a means to overcome many have succumbed to outward religious acts. It can been seen across every denomination, tribe, and tongue. However, after great investments of time and endless striving, hearts remain battle weary, empty, and in want.
I know this battle very well. As a young believer I wanted nothing more than to love God and to bring Him glory and honor in and through my life. I ached for Him with all that I was, but all my striving to be perfect, clean, and whole left me bankrupt and broken. Isn’t this what the Lord desires? Wasn’t striving for holiness what pleased Him or brought Him great delight? Wasn’t it better than striving for sin and longing for my heart to be satisfied with the pleasures of this world? With all this stirring within I found myself asking questions that threaten the very foundation of my faith. I was completely undone and honestly scared that I’d become so unapologetically raw. The next few months Holy Spirit began graciously teaching me about my true inheritance called righteousness. Until that moment righteousness was only familiar in theory. Today it’s the very foundation from where my faith grows!
Righteousness or being righteous conscience means the ability to stand in the presence of Father God without sense of guilt or inferiority.
“And since we now have a magnificent High Priest to welcome us into God’s house, we come closer to God and approach him with an open heart, fully convinced that nothing will keep us at a distance from him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity, and we have been freed from an accusing conscience. Now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out!”
Hebrews 10:21-22 TPT
GOD’s CURE dealt with this problem through His Son Jesus. He made it possible on legal grounds for man who is spiritually dead, to become a new creation by receiving the very nature and life of God. This life and nature of God is righteousness!
Righteousness gives us awareness of sonship privileges. We are sons. God is our Father. We’re not servants. We are not sinners. (Romans 5:16) We are heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. God laid upon Jesus our inquiries. He was made sin with our sins. He was made unrighteous with our unrighteousness. (2 Cor 5:21) As our sin substitute, he went to the place of suffering and stayed there until every claim of justice against us had been fully satisfied.(Col 1:18-23TPT)
As surely as God made Jesus sin, God made us righteous the moment we accepted Him!
Righteousness comes by faith. Not by work, but by Christ’s work! This gives us a new liberty in prayer, a new sense of authority as sons and daughters of God. In this we confidently stand knowing that WE ARE WHAT HE DECLARES US TO BE- ANOINTED HEIRS!
QUESTIONS:
1. Have you ever dealt with a sin consciousness? (guilt, shame, condemning whispers, inferior, etc)
2. In those moments was faith made alive or did you lose your footing?
3. Why is righteousness legally ours as believers? Is it hard to believe?
4. Read Col 1: 18-23 in the passion translation. How do you accept such a gift?
