My pastor taught a series called "Trading Places", and the Word in this series opened my spiritual eyes and set me free from unbelief and depression. I had never known Jesus as the one with "No Sin." I knew he did not sin, but I didn't KNOW HIM as the one WITH NO SIN. What do I mean by this? He's perfect, He never missed it, He lived 33.. years on this earth without saying anything amiss, never once got anything wrong, and I never let Him show me how to overcome problems or sin or tell me what to do to overcome it, by HIS WORD. I kept getting in the way with statements like, "Well, everybody's gonna sin!" and "Nobody's perfect." Not realizing these were just excuses for me to stay in darkness, because there was one, perfect and without sin, the man Jesus Christ. 1 John 3:5-7 : "And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is NO SIN. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him."
The Lord opened my eyes to see, that if I would abide in Jesus, I could also walk without sin. What was I going to abide in? How? What is this talking about? What do you mean? This kills all I have ever been taught......what? These words in 1 John 3 stood out at me. "TAKE AWAY OUR SINS." Most people who say they accept Jesus, including myself at one time, never really believe that they have been forgiven (acquitted), without any remembrance to the offence or ability to bring it up again, of everything. Jesus took our sins away, meaning they can no longer drive me, no longer whip me to obey them, no longer defeat me, no longer hang around. And until you get forgiven you will never see this. I was a believer, locked up because of my past, not even able to share Jesus correctly because I has a big plank in my eye, trying to pull out the speck in theirs. I lived in misery, depressed and angry, frustrated, irritated and wanted to give up.
Did you ever notice Jesus said in John 8:31-32, "If you CONTINUE in MY WORD, then are you my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Well, here is what I did, I continued in, I am forgiven of everything and he took my sins away. When the thoughts would come about past sins and depression tried to sit on me, I would continue in saying this, "Nope Jesus forgave me of that and He took that away." In other words, I let Jesus become my sin, and I took His forgiveness. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 it says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew NO SIN; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." I started Trading Places with Jesus, I let him become everything that was wrong with me, my past or anything, and I took or started becoming his way of doing and being right, which was, "He took my sins away", or "He forgave me of that and forgot it, so I didn't remember it either."
Let Jesus become what you have done wrong, so you can become what he is, it is a gift. Jesus was a righteous man with NO SIN, who became sin. We WERE no good sinners, who Jesus MADE righteous, not by any works of our own, but by His work on the cross and the shed blood at Calvary. Glory to God! Thank you Jesus. Praise the Lord.
