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Psalm 130:3: If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?

Hebrews 8:12: For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Psalm 129:3: Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.

None of us in this world can boast about how good we are. Nobody can walk around with their chest puffed up and let everyone know they are without sin. Yet too many of us try and keep up the charade as if we can be holy by our ability to stay out of sin. 

Too many of us go to exhaustive measures heaping on rules, regulations, procedures, personal decrees, and so forth to keep us from the pit of obvious sin. Too many of us try and fail, and so in that failure we realize the ineptness of our striving. We open ourselves up to the idea that we can be without sin, then we also must open ourselves up for the punishment for our failures. Trying to live a good life free of sin is not a bad goal or desire. It is when we believe that we must live a life holy and without sin in order to please God, or be righteous on our own that we will certainly fail. It is in this self-belief that we find the very virtue that Jesus came to destroy in the form of the Pharisees. When we are self-holy, self-righteous then we set an example of what that looks like. Pretty soon we expect others to be like us. When that expectation is not met, then we find that our recourse is shame, guilt, and threats of something deeply fearful such as the lake of fire. 

I know of a church who strictly prohibits anyone affiliated with them from drinking alcohol. You must sign an agreement. Now, if everyone agrees and is on board with it, who am I to judge? Why is this necessary? Is this a rule of God or man? 

You see it is man who starts to dictate a check-list of, and a severity of sin. I have searched the bible and it does not say that drinking alcohol is a sin. So, this rule that is created by man for this congregation is based on the assumption of something further beyond drinking alcohol in and of itself. It is suggesting that it may open the door to sin. It also may send a message that this church is outwardly walking the walk, not just talking the talk. Jesus addresses the people who are making a big deal about their righteousness (Luke 20:46) a lot more than he does about drinking alcohol. In fact, His first miracle was to turn water into amazing choice wine for a wedding banquet (John 2:10). 

I am not suggesting a life of debauchery and drunkenness. I am suggesting a life of freedom from sin and from self-righteousness. We don't have to walk around in fear of sin, nor do we have to walk around in fear of eternal damnation because we all sin!

If you kept a record of our sins Lord, who could stand? Jesus, Jesus is the only one who could stand. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, the plowing of His back, we no longer have to be yoked with sin or the self-righteous. We are yoked with Jesus, and so our freedom is bought and paid for by the long furrows on His back. The nail holes in His hands and feet. The puncture wound in His side. He was destroyed for our liberation. Do not go from one slavery (sin) to another, (self-righteousness). We are yoked with Jesus. Give Him the glory, the honor. Live the life He paid for. He remembers your sin no more. Wash your hands tonight with me, and say, " Jesus I thank you that as I wash my hands tonight, I am washing away sin." " I am washing away any doubt about Your sacrifice on my behalf, regardless of how bad my sins have been." " I thank You for no longer keeping a chart of my sins that could be used against me." I thank You for the liberty to honor, praise, and worship You with my life, starting right now." " I will never let anyone tell me that I am not good enough to enter Your eternal rest ever again, and I know that Your sacrifice is bigger than anything I can do here on earth." " I thank You Jesus, that You have wiped the slate clean as my hands are now clean. Amen."