Tags
Atheism, Atheist, christianity, curse, faith, generational curse, God, good news, gospel, grace, israel, music, spiritual, Spirituality
Did your hand caused you to sin today? don’t confess your sins. Cut off your hands!
Very clearly. Jesus made an emphasis on this on two occasions.
Matthew 5:30 (LEB)
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it from you! For it is better for you that one of your limbs be destroyed than your whole body go into hell.
Matthew 18:8 (LEB)
8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it from you! It is better for you to enter into life crippled or lame than, having two hands or two feet, to be thrown into the eternal fire!
But don’t cut it yet, rather continue reading.
If you need forgiveness of sins, then you need to forgive others first their sins against you. Or else you wont get forgiveness from God
Matthew 6:12 (NLT)
12 and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us
Was it hard? What if you miss one sin? Indeed! It is impossible!
Jesus taught the Law as well
Did you know that Jesus was the real expert among the teachers of the Law. Well for that matter, He wrote the Law.
John 8:6 (LEB)
6 … But Jesus, bending down, began to write with his finger on the ground, taking no notice.
Jesus didn’t taught the practice of sin confession. He simply forgives. as He said “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”
Matthew 9:6 (LEB)
6 But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins
but don’t come to Jesus saying “this i have done” or you get “you haven’t done enough”
Mark 10:20-22 (NLT)
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Was it hard? can you sell all your possessions? Indeed it is impossible!
To forgive sins is easier than healing the sick
There was this paralyzed man brought to Jesus. Jesus saw the faith of the friends then forgave the sins of the paralytic
Matthew 9:2 (LEB)
2 And behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher, and when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”
The paralytic didn’t confess his sins, didn’t have faith. but on the friend’s account of Faith, the paralytic got forgiven and healed!
The friends were there to get their paralytic friend healed and not to get forgiveness of sins.
But Jesus makes it sure that all man knows “I came and have authority to forgive sins and to make it known to all man”, so He went to forgive first his sins, then healed the paralytic man.
But true forgiveness is by the blood of Jesus
The scripture says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 9:22 (LEB)
22 Indeed, nearly everything is purified with blood according to the law, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
The sins of the paralytic man were temporarily forgiven on account of Jesus.
But the new covenant forgiveness of sin is not based on “confess your sins to be forgiven” or “forgive other or you will not be forgiven”
The new covenant forgiveness of sin is based on the shed blood of Jesus
How powerful is that? very powerful!
ALL our Past, Present and Future sins are washed away. Washed by the blood of the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world.
John 1:29 (LEB)
29 On the next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
The scripture clearly states
Hosea 6:6 (LEB)
6 Because I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice …
To forgive sins is easier than healing the sick. That’s the message. In other words, we though God was out there with a rod, ready to hit and beat us every time we commit sin. But no, He desires Mercy and Grace.
My friend, God desires forgiveness for your sins unconditionally. No confession on your part, no sacrifice on your part. but only the blood of Jesus shed on your behalf. As if it was you on the cross.
Again, To forgive sins is easier than healing the sick
Maybe you are sick and in need of healing. you never fail to believe for healing but you have trouble believing ALL your sins were forgiven?
I say, start believing first, All your sins were forgiven, then healing will follow.
No need to cut your hands for Jesus was cut and bruised for you. No need to punish yourself for Jesus was punished for you.
Forgive, because you have been forgiven
Lastly
The new covenant and the gospel is this
… Not to continue in sin, but to receive forgiveness for all sins so there is no sin left more to continue in sin.
– grace and peace
the gospel of grace 
Matthew 18:8-9
Please read Matthew 18:8-9, Jesus is speaking. “Wherefore if your hand or your foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast [them] from you: it is better for you to enter into life crippled or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if your eye offends you, pluck it out, and cast [it] from you: it is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”
What a statement. “Cut off your hand or pluck out your eye…!” Why was our Lord being so graphic? What was His point? I have always been troubled by these words. I’m sure that my lack of understanding was my problem. But still, how could a man like Jesus tell me to cut off my hand if I sin? Or, pluck out my eye because I looked at something I should not have looked at.
Jesus must have known what he was teaching about. What point was he trying to get across to listeners at the time? Imagine, someone who cuts off both hands and plucks out both eyes. Do you think they would stop sinning? Do you believe it would help?
On many occasions, I asked others what their interpretation was of these verses. They would say, “…Oh, Jesus wants us to remove anything that causes us to sin against God.” Fine, I’ll buy that; remove what ever is causing you to sin. But, consider this.
Here is how the Holy Spirit explained these verses to me. First of all, things do not cause me to sin. James 1:14, tells us, we sin when we are tempted and are lead away by our own lusts and desires. So, if your hand does not cause you to sin, why cut it off?” Likewise, if your eye does not sin either, why pluck it out?
It is our heart that is wicked. Jeremiah 17:9, The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? It is the old, sinful nature that causes us to sin. Paul said in Romans, chapter seven, it is the sin within me that causes me to do the very thing I do not wish to do. It is not your hand that causes you to sin. Besides, we have been born again, the old nature is dead and crucified with Christ, our Lord. You see, we cannot understand the old testament teachings without first applying the teachings of the law of grace. The law of Christ.
So what was Jesus trying to say? Who was Jesus speaking to? Jesus was speaking to people who were under the Law’s interpretation of the Gospel, not to those under Grace. Their understanding of the Gospel had not been enlightened. Jesus was doing just that! Teaching the truth. The prevailing thought of the day was to obey the Law and thus you would WIN God’s favor by not sinning. That was not the purpose of the law. Notice the hearts of the Pharisees in Matthew 19:3, they were asking Jesus questions regarding divorce. They were testing the Lord. Like so many people of today, they were trying to argue with Jesus by using experience of those who had broken the Law. They were not seeking the Lords wisdom, they were seeking to test God. Thus Jesus replied, “…cut it off!”
These Pharisees, in Matthew, chapter 19, had a far different heart of the Pharisee they called, Nicodemus, (John 3). Nicodemus came to ask Jesus what he must do to enter Heaven. So, Jesus gave the former Pharisees the law. He said to them, “What does the Law say?” But, Jesus gave Nicodemus the way the truth and life. To the Pharisees, Jesus was demonstrating the error of their theology. He was trying to win them over to the Gospel. To Nicodemus he said, “You must be born again.”
In Matthew 18:8-9. Jesus exaggerates the argument by saying, if you are able to stop sinning then by all means, cut off your hands. For who among us would not have both hands, both feet, both eyes, both ears and a tongue cut off? What are you going to do? Do you know anyone who has cut off his hand or plucked out his eye? Neither do I.
The Apostle Paul even alluded to the same argument by saying to those who thought cutting off something would please God. (Gal 5:12) Paul wished for those who were telling others to cut something off to be holier, to go and cut themselves off!
In 1st John 1:9, we read, “…If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleans us from all unrighteousness.” Where does John say anything about cutting off your sinning parts. Jesus loves us so much, He was simply trying to say “…stay out of Hell at all costs! and I am that way.” Your strength is not within yourselves, it is with in Me. That is why they call him Savior.
He lives!
Bob Coker-.
Coker@bwsys.net
We sin because of the Sin.
the thing is, people are still doing their best not to sin in order to gain righteousness.
people wanted to enter heaven by “not sinning”
so Jesus made it clear, that it is impossible to enter heaven by our own efforts, thus cut off your hand
yes, Jesus was literally telling us to cut off our hands.
but yes, Jesus death at the cross was literal as well.
if cutting our hands when we sin is graphic, so the death of Jesus was as well. indeed beyond graphic.
people will always try to downplay the words of Jesus. because they wanted “to be able to keep the commandments”
just like how the pharisees made the Law keep-able.
and that is the essence of the Law, to make it hard, to make it impossible, to declare forth we are sinners and to bring us to Christ ultimately
– grace and peace
Very well stated, !
I think we need to be careful with throwing at confession. After all, 1 John states “sIf we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and tthe truth is not in us. 9 uIf we confess our sins, he is vfaithful and just to forgive us our sins and rto cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, wwe make him a liar, and xhis word is not in us.” That’s a New Testament passage. It falls under the new covenant. You are exactly right on all ofthis being rooted in the blood of Christ. However that gift requires acceptance from us, and that acceptance requires confession of our sin to acknowledge that we do indeed need the blood of Christ. Some people put all the focus on confession, but ignoring it entirely is incredibly dangerous.
i am looking at the contextual time of the letter. it was written to the gnostics.
my basis was purely historical.
like i said before, i have nothing against confession.
people who wanted to confess their sins, they are free to do so. neither its a sin to confess sins.
to some, its therapeutic. it relieves them of pressure or stress.
but i think everyone agrees that it is only through the blood of Christ our sins are forgiven, not confession.
Beloved, I am not arguing your point and I see nothing wrong with confession either, but this teaching hinders the Work of the Cross in the Believer’s life. It is a matter of maturity. NO where in the new testament AFTER the CROSS does the bible tell us to confess our sin.. it says, believe it is finished, once and for all.
Hi Bob,
thank you for the time to give us the insight.
as far as I am concern, i am not concern about confession for i know all my sins have been forgiven.
the problem lies within the people who confesses their sins. my argument is that THEY SHOULD FAITHFULLY CONFESS IT EVERYDAY
see, the problem is, “WE HAVE TO CONFESS THAT WE FAIL TO CONFESS OUR SINS”
if we fail to confess our sins, and we believe forgiveness comes after confession, then we are not righteous.
by the way, for the sake of other readers. i am using the editorial “we”.
– grace and peace
I agree it is only the blood of Christ that saves, but acceptance of that blood requires us to confess that we are sinners does it not?
Hi Fletcher.
yes. as Jesus stated. “it is the sick who needs a doctor, not the healthy”
the pharisees were sick as well, but Jesus didn’t dine with them, but rather with the sinners, who are obvious sinners, who knew and accepted that they were sinners.
1 john 1:9 was written to those who deny sin, and that they are sinners.
but to those who are seeking for forgiveness of sins, they can come to God and receive the forgiveness through Christ, the blood of Jesus washes their sins.
1 John 1:7 is for the Believers
“but if we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son CLEANSES us of all sins”
the word “cleanses” in greek is continuous form. it is in effect everyday, every hour every minute. it is active.
but then, to those who are made righteous, we confess not that we are sinners, but righteous.
as Paul said, forgive, because you have been forgiven.
we cannot forgive unless we were forgiven, we cannot love unless we were loved by God first.
and yes, whenever we have sinned, we confess we are righteous and still righteous. and yes, we will never lose righteousness for Christ is our righteousness. amen
Fletch. 1john in the first chapter is being addressed to the Gnostic of his day.
1 JOHN 1:9 BANE OR BLESSING? Hebrews 10 say, Jesus died ONCE and FOR ALL time, ALL sin. So, where is your sin to confess..?
by Bill Gillham
When you were born you began constructing a “truth” screen over your mind. You filtered everything through
this screen, rejecting anything that stuck in its web. You were super naïve and soon accepted the Santa Claus
myth. You didn’t question how he and his reindeer could fly or how this round man could slide down chimneys
and keep his suit clean including its white collar! Santa lives! Mom and dad said so.
In time, you became more sophisticated at screening. Your parents admitted they’d gone along with the Santa
story for your enjoyment-that dad really was Santa. You reconstructed your truth screen and ricocheted Santa,
his elves, and reindeer into outer space. Over the years you’ve done more reconstruction than the NYC Street
Department.
There’s a portion of your truth screen that I want to focus on-your “religious” screen. Just as your early belief in
Santa affected your behavior, what you believe about Christianity will influence the way you live. You want to
get it right.
Pretend you’re a member of a first century church near Ephesus. The apostle, John, has written a circular letter (First
John) that will be read to the congregation this morning. Certain influential men in your church are openly immoral,
sleeping around, leering at the sisters, and recruiting others to join them. John is very concerned about these “early
Gnostics” and believes they’re lost. He contrasts the saved wheat against the lost tares thirty-one times in this brief
letter! Adjust your truth screen to accommodate this scene. Remember now, you’ve never heard of 1 John. 1:9, “If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,”
so remove your knowledge of that information from your screen.
Gnostics believed all physical matter was evil; therefore Christ couldn’t have had a body, thus making the
crucifixion a myth. In their minds, Christ was not a human being, but a phantom. They also believed it was not
sinful, but normal to practice pious religion and immorality simultaneously! Gnostics believed they had no sin; they
were not born again.
The pastor begins to read. (You’re “listening” with the mindset that John is contrasting two groups-born-again folks
vs. Gnostics. I’ve used footnotes to identify the players whom I believe his pronouns represent. Since Gnostics
believed Christ had no body, John, an eyewitness, begins by establishing that Jesus was both divine and human.)
1 John 1:1 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we1 have seen with our1 eyes, what we1
beheld and our1 hands handled, concerning the Word of Life (Jesus)
2 and the life (Jesus) was manifested, and we1 have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life
(Jesus), which was with the Father and was manifested to us1.
3 what we1 have seen and heard we1 proclaim to you2 also, that you2 also may have fellowship with us ; and indeed
our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things we1 write, so that our4 joy may be made complete.
5 And this is the message we1 have heard from Him and announce to you2 that God is light, and in Him there is no
darkness at all.
6 If we2 say that we2 have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we2 lie and do not practice the truth;
7 but if we4 walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we4 have fellowship with one another3, and the blood of
Jesus His Son cleanses us4 from all sin.
8 If we2 say that we2 have no sin, we2 are deceiving ourselves2, and the truth is not in us2.
9 If we2 confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us2 our sins and to cleanse us2 from all
unrighteousness.
10 If we2 say that we2 have not sinned, we2 make Him a liar, and His word is not in us2
John says these early Gnostics needed to be saved and 1 John. 1:9 tells them how! Today, however, well-meaning
mentors mistakenly teach that 1 John. 1:9 tells Christians how to deal with “unforgiven” sin. Unforgiven sin? Gang,
the only folks with unforgiven sin are the non-believers! New Creations are forgiven of all sins. Look what John says
thirteen verses later in the same letter, “I am writing to you4, little children, because your4 sins are forgiven you4 for
His name’s sake” (2:12). New Creatures’ sins are forgiven!
Caution: Never evaluate teaching via your emotions. They can’t even think! Trust only the Holy Spirit, not this
writer or religious tradition. Our forgiveness benefits two parties, not one. A lover can best demonstrate the
magnitude of his love via the objects of his affection: the more unworthy the object, the more glorious the lover.
God demonstrated His unparalleled love by sacrificing Jesus to forgive a bunch of hammerheads. We, on the other
hand, needed God’s forgiveness so we could gratefully snuggle up to Him in return. However, it’s more complex
than that. Since God is not a time restricted Being, He sees forever into what we time-critters call “the future”
as well as what we call “the past.” Time is a meaningless concept to Him. While we see our sins one by one, to
God they’re simultaneous. You could say human beings march in the time parade, while God hovers over it like a
helicopter. 2 Pet. 3: 8 says, “…with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 1,000
= 1 = 1,000? What kind of math is that? It’s God’s math! Our sins are all present tense to God. God washed away
ALL your sins in Jesus’ blood! They’re not covered; they’re gone!
Without total forgiveness, God would constantly view our sins. He could never fellowship with us, nor could He
receive us into His holy presence, let alone indwell us, were we not holy through our crucifixion and rebirth in
Christ. “For the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are” (1 Cor. 3:17). We are holy, forgiven saints or an
intimate relationship with God would be impossible! God calls you a saint (holy) in sixty-three post-cross verses!
Will you bounce all sixty-three off your religious-tradition screen?
For a born-again person to ask God to forgive and cleanse him from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9) is unbelief.
We saints were “forgiven (Eph. 4:32) and cleansed from all unrighteousness” (1 Cor. 1:30) at salvation. Asking for
forgiveness is similar to repeatedly asking Jesus to save you or continuing to ask your spouse to marry you. God
must agonize when a born-again person repeatedly exhorts Him to “be faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” as if He had failed to accomplish this through Jesus! Our obligation is to
believe Him.
Therefore, what should we do when we’ve sinned? I believe quickly acknowledging our sin to God keeps us
spiritually honed. Failing to do so tempts us to become dull, casual or even indifferent about our sin. (Hey, we say
we’re sorry when we bump someone on the sidewalk, for heaven’s sake!) Then thank God that He forgave us of all
our sins at salvation and snuggle into His lap again. Such grace, dear relative, motivates us to holy living. What a
God!
1 John
2 Early Gnostics
3 Father, Son, Holy Spirit and saints
4 saints
Fletch.. This is the last place I want to argue, but because you asked and I can sense your humility… I’d love to chat off line at bob.coker@gmail.com check our my site at http://www.lawandgrace.com Jesus decided to show me grace in 1994.. what a TRIP.. Believe me, you are, and neither am I a Sinner…. I am a Saint and so are you.. you are not a sinning Saint and you don’t have two natures.. Hope to hear from you.. Bob