Focus: God's Answer To Sin

Text: Isa.59:1-2.

"Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."

Sin is a terrible thing. It causes separation between us and God and hinders the flow of God's power in our lives. Sin shortchanges us.

But here's the good news. In the Old Testament, when God's people repented of their sins, he took care of it in different ways.

*He covers them - Ps.31:1.

*He removes them as far as the east is from the west - Ps.103:12.

*He casts them behind his back - Isa.38:17.

*He blots them out - Isa.44:22.

*He casts them into the depths of the sea - Mic.7:19.

*He remembers them no more - Jer.31:34.

*He pardons them - Jer.33:8.

*He looks for their sins, but can't find them - Jer.50:20.

In the New Testament, God, through the blood of Christ, forgives and cleanses us - 1Jh.1:7,9. He washes or looses us from our sins by his own blood - Rev.1:5.

In fact, in Rom.8, when Paul mentions the things that cannot separate us from the love of God, sin was not even on the list, and I believe it is because God in Christ has already taken care of it.

Sin as a PRINCIPLE has been atoned for by Christ on the cross, and as for the POWER of sin, Paul declares by the Spirit, "For sin shall not have dominion over you" - Rom.6:14. Even the psalmist prayed, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me" - Ps.19:13.

I pray God to let you see the light of his glory and lift you above the moral gravity of sin, and let the word of God and the power of the Spirit break the yoke of sin and guilt in your life, in Jesus' name. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter