Guiltless On That Day

“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”- I Corinthians 1:4-9

Please re-read that section of chapter 1 this morning and stop and consider exactly what it is saying to “YOU”!

Can you remember the last time God’s Word stopped you in your tracks?  Can you remember the last time you came away in awe of the simple yet profound truths of God’s love for us…His people? Of course, all of God’s word ought to cause us pause because if our eyes and heart are open… God through His Spirit… is always getting our attention.

But these words, specifically verse 8, “…our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” This passage almost singlehandedly sets the ground work for the letters Paul will send to the troubled church in Corinth, but they also should resonate with us today as well.  For it is one thing to think of Jesus sustaining us as Paul speaks of to the Thessalonians, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.”– (I Thess. 5:23-24)…but this word “guiltless” in our I Corinthian text truly defines what “blameless” means for us. As I said we might be able to get our heads around the “fact” that Christ will sustain us to the end…but guiltless…to me that takes it to a whole other level. Because we “know” better don’t we for our sin is always with us.

I don’t know what you think about when you see the word “guiltless” used in context concerning our relationship to the Godhead but as far as I am concerned I don’t spend enough time thinking about that because I don’t “feel” guiltless a lot of the time. We may “know” intellectually that these passages are “true”, but our heart, which can’t always be trusted, tells us differently. We sin every day, how can I be considered guiltless by God when I sin? It may just be me but I often have a hard time thinking that I am guiltless in God’s eyes, right now…even though that is part of what this means in context.

Being, now, in Christ, we are “guiltless” and we will be “guiltless” on That Day. We have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. All of our debt has been paid by Him on the Cross.  ALL in this case means ALL concerning our sin before the Father…the only way we could be considered holy.  Remember Paul calls us saints, now…God’s holy ones, now…sanctified ones, now in verse 2 and it is to these alone that He has given grace in Jesus Christ…(to believe in and call on Jesus Christ and BE, in His eyes…Guiltless!).

Christ took all our sin and imputed to us His “righteousness” so that we can be guiltless and blameless before the Father. God’s elect are justified before the Father forever only because of the work of Jesus Christ on behalf of all His people…His elect. “Guiltless” in the Greek means “one who cannot be blamed”. This is how the Father sees us …THIJNK ABOUT THAT!!!!… This is true because of the person and work of Christ…and that is truly good news of God’s love for us His chosen children.

But I still feel guilt and shame?! Yep… and we should give thanks for that… for it helps us to know we are God’s child. God’s love doesn’t take these away because we still sin and we need to be aware of the One who holds us to a higher standard so we will run to Christ in repentance. Without guilt and shame we would never go to God to seek forgiveness which the Scriptures constantly remind us is a necessary daily exercise in our growth in grace. If we didn’t have the capacity to feel pain we would never know when we needed to see a physician and we would never know that we were healing. 

The Father’s love is so deep because it is not hampered by our sin. Christ through the Spirit deals with us on a daily basis to encourage and strengthen us in setting aside the sins that plague us and weigh us down day to day as we live in this fallen world with our fallen nature.

One last point; All of this is true…NOT… because of anything we did, are doing, or will do …it is only true because God is faithful to Himself…He keeps His covenant. His promise to redeem His people which He accomplished in Christ on the Cross will only be complete on the Day of the Lord Jesus Christ’s coming again… because He called us into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who “…will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God Bless y’all today.

In His Grip,
Pastor Mike