As a minister of grace I am often asked about sin, its consequences and God's view and reaction towards sin. These are good questions as the accusation that we are giving people a “licence to sin” is not accurate and unfounded. In Rom 6:1 the Apostle Paul was accused of letting people sin so that the grace of God could be manifest and his reply was God forbid, it is not true.

Well, what has God done with regards to sin and does sin separate me from Him and His love.

In the Old Testament when the people of Israel came to offer sacrifices to God through the Levitical priesthood, the priest would inspect the Lamb to see that it was without spot or blemish. God has inspected the Lamb of God sacrificed for my sins and found him to be without spot or blemish. The Lamb has taken the fire of God's judgement upon Himself that He might declare that I am free from all punishment of sin.

Let's look at some verses of scripture with regards to what Jesus accomplished at the cross and how God views sin and His relationship with man.

1) Isa 53:4 Surely He has borne (lifted) our grief's (disease), and carried (taken the burden) our sorrows (pains); yet we esteemed Him stricken (struck, beaten, punished, beaten), smitten (wounded) of God, and afflicted (chasten).

Isa 53:5 But He was wounded (to bear) for our transgressions (rebellion, sin, transgression); He was bruised (beat to pieces, crush, destroy, humble, oppress, smite) for our iniquities(fault, iniquity, mischief, sin); the chastisement (correction) of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed.

The whole purpose of Jesus dying on the cross was to deal with sin and its consequences regarding man and God. Note in this verse that Jesus was struck, beaten and punished; He was wounded and bore our sin. He was beaten, crushed and oppressed for our iniquities, faults and sin. He was and is the Eternal sacrifice forever found Faithful in the Heavenlies for the work He accomplished on the cross.

To think that God has reserved some sort of punishment for me because of sin is to take the grace of God in vain, and declare that what Jesus accomplished on the cross is not a complete and satisfactory sacrifice.

Remember John the Baptist pointing to Jesus and declaring “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

Rom 4:7-8 saying, "Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will in no way impute sin."

Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more."

Jesus is the perfect sacrifice and the work that was done on the cross is a finished work. He has dealt with the law and its demands, the accuser of the brethren, and sin and sickness. What a wonderful work of God, that in His love for man He refuses to deal with man according to what we deserve.

God is not dealing with man according to His sins because sin has been dealt with. It was dealt the final blow on the cross of Calvary and we stand before Him without a consciousness of sin.

2Co 5:17 So that if any one is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

2Co 5:19 whereas God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and putting the word of reconciliation in us.

2Co 5:20 Then we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as God exhorting through us, we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

2Co 5:21 For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

In verse 19 it clearly states that God was in Christ exchanging the world to Himself, not holding our sins against us and the reason is in verse 21, He became our sin that we might become the righteousness of God.

So we can see that God is not and will not deal with us according to our sins. There is a consequence to sin though and that is the result of sowing and reaping. In Rom 6:14-23 we see that the wages of sin is death. There is a paymaster when we sin and the pay we will always receive is death. This does not mean that God has forgotten the work of the cross, this means that sin in and of itself has the power to produce death. It does not say that God is killing us when we sin, it does not say God is punishing us when we sin. It says that sins paymaster is death.

Once we realise who we are and what Jesus accomplished on our behalf we begin to fall in love with God. He is not against us, He is for us, and He is on our side. We need to let go of our shame, guilt and condemnation because of sin and believe what God has done through His Son Jesus. We are guiltless, blameless, righteous and holy in His sight. Let's believe it and walk in it.