One of the amazing things in scripture is one testimony after another revealing that failure is not final. The Bible states in…
- Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
- Isaiah 64:6, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
It seems that before a Holy God, we are doomed. We all have sinned and are broken. What a predicament that we are in living in our ugliness. Yet, there is some incredible, eternal, good news.
- John 10:10, “The thief (the devil) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Yes, you read the scriptures correctly, the righteous Son of God became our sin on the cross shedding His blood on our behalf so that unrighteous men like each of us can become the righteousness of God. Now, God looks down at us in the spiritual realm and considers us new creatures.
If you look at the Bible, you see proof of the above in peoples’ lives:
- Peter denied Christ three times as He was being beaten, cursed and slandered. The last of these three denials, he cursed Jesus. He humiliated himself and Christ. Yet, Peter experienced the forgiveness of Jesus after the cross and resurrection. 50 days later, he preached a sermon to Jews from all over the world who had come to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. 3000 people came to Christ and ware baptized. Amazing!
- Paul the apostle literally led a band of soldiers who killed Christians, imprisoning others…he called himself the “chief-est of sinners.” Paul tried to destroy the early church. However, on a road to Damascus, he met Jesus who dramatically saved him. This vicious, embittered, ambitious, unscrupulous man became a man who reached the non-Jewish world with the loving good news of Jesus Christ.
- John 4 records the story of a Samaritan woman who had been married five times and currently was living in an adulterous relationship. Yet, Christ engaged her in conversation and let her to understand grace, forgiveness and new beginnings. Then, this lady rushed back to Samaria with her new testimony of meeting the Savior of the world. Samaria ended up experiencing a huge revival of new beginnings because of her testimony.
- There was a prostitute caught in the act of adultery recorded in John 8. The Jewish law demanded that she be stoned. Yet, Jesus forgave her and gave her a fresh new start in life with Him as her Lord and Savior.
I could go on and on with magnificent Biblical stories of regeneration of new life in people. You look in the Bible it becomes evident and the very purpose of the gospel to give sinners a rebirth with new beginnings. Even after becoming a Christian, we find ourselves “blowing it.” However, the cross of Jesus forgave us past, present and future. We walk in grace.
So, throw off your self-condemnation and shame and bask in the glory of the life of Jesus with the Holy Spirit living within you. Failure is not final!
Barnabas Man 