“She agreed and sent them away. When they had gone, she tied the red cord to the window.” (Joshua 2:21)
This is from the event at Jericho. Rahab, a prostitute whose house was on the wall, hid the Israelite spies. As a reward, the spies told her to tie a red cord to the window and she would be spared when they came to destroy Jericho. All of Jericho had heard of the God of Israel and how mightily He had helped them get victory wherever they went. The whole town was in fear. But Rahab trusted in the God of the spies. And she obeyed in faith that she and her family would be spared.
Some may gasp at the sin of prostitution. But the sin of lying, the sin of envy, the sin of anger, the sin of pride and every other sin we may think is not as grievous as prostitution is the same as prostitution. It’s the same as murder. Yes! To God, sin is sin. It’s an affront to Him. It’s rebellion against His Holiness. And the payment is death. We were all guilty.
The operative word is “were.” We have a Savior Who took that debt of death and died for us. He took our death so that we could live. The payment for sin has been paid. There is no more guilt of sin on us. “But now God's way of putting people right with Himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the Law of Moses and the prophets gave their witness to it. God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence. But by the free gift of God's grace all are put right with Him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free. God offered Him, so that by His blood He should become the means by which people's sins are forgiven through their faith in Him. God did this in order to demonstrate that He is righteous. In the past He was patient and overlooked people's sins; but in the present time He deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate His righteousness. In this way God shows that He Himself is righteous and that He puts right everyone who believes in Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-25)
God’s mercy has made us right with Him when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we believe He is the Son of God, that He took our sins and died for them and when we believe that He arose and is seated at the right hand of the Father. “But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By him we are put right with God; we become God's holy people and are set free.” (1Corinthians 1:30)
But, you say, “I don’t want to sin, but I keep sinning.” We are not able to conquer sin on our own strength. It’s a spiritual matter. Jesus has taken care of it. Decide in your heart to stop. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Then when you are about to sin, the Holy Spirit will remind you not to sin. At the time, you must obey Him. Ask Him to help you right then and there to give you the strength to obey Him. You may stumble a few times. But the Holy Spirit will give you supernatural power to overcome. Jesus has taken the punishment for sin. “There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) He has taken our guilt. If you stumble, get up and begin again. The time will come when you realize, you don’t sin like that again. We are set free from the condemnation of sin. Realize that sin is an offense to God and ask for forgiveness. “But if we confess our sins to God, He will keep His promise and do what is right: He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.” (1John 1:9)
This is God’s gift to us. We don’t deserve it. It’s by God’s mercy and grace that He offers it to us. “But the Scripture says that the whole world is under the power of sin; and so, the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:22) It is by believing that we receive. Our act of faith is to tell the Lord that you believe and accept His marvelous gift. “What it says is this: "God's message is near you, on your lips and in your heart"—that is, the message of faith that we preach. If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved.” (Romans 10:8-10)
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