Are you a worthless sinner? Would God invest His Son in something worthless? Find out the truth. You are worth His battle, you are to be bold in your glory from Christ!

“Now where there is a remission of these (sins), there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:18-22).

I was recently listening to a worship service at a church of which I was visiting. The confession on which the prayers were founded shocked me as inherently not Christlike and nothing like what we see Paul, Peter, and Christ’s disciples speak of as an example of those living as Christ did, those who follow His way.

Such prayers include the philosophical belief that “by nature, we are sinful and unclean” that “we are poor, miserable sinners.”

This, at first glance, may seem right to congregants, as Christians have been told that we were born broken, that we are not worth God’s love but that, in His perfect mercy and infinite grace, He loved us anyway. This may give God honor and greatness in His qualities of mercy and grace, but what does it say about His ability to create sentient beings that He considers made in His image?

Post-Fall Identity

Did we somehow lose our innate foundation as creatures being made in the image of God after Adam and Eve’s fall from the Garden of Eden?

When looking at the presuppositions of many Christians as being worthless beings who are not deserving of God’s love, questions of God’s initial investment in His creation are desperately in need of attention.

What does us being poor, worthless beings, made broken and without anything good in us, mean about God’s investment in us?

Why would our Father sacrifice His Son to be cursed forever, if we were not worth or worthy of anything or if we had no value? Clearly, that would be a poor investment and would either place God in a state of desperation for us or that He made a bad trade-off in Christ’s sacrifice. If he is desperate for us, then He isn’t full and omnipotently perfect in all His ways, as He would require us for satisfaction, while we know God is fully satisfied as He is, He is perfect in all His ways.

Our Glory Within – A Reason for Boldness

The counter-argument to this would be that we as His creation do have value and that God is seeking to obtain back His investment in us He made long ago, that maybe we are more than miserable, that our nature may not be sinful but glorious, a glory hidden somewhere deep within us.

This heresy of original sin has surely hurt the Christian faith, and there is much to learn about who we are as Christians and our thus-far eternal battle for identity, but there is more to defeat in the landscape of false teachings that are found in the church today.

Removing False humility in Christians

Was Jesus bold because He was God or was He bold because He did what God the Father did? What is interesting is how Jesus’s miracles all came after His baptism, that it was the Holy Spirit working through Him doing those things. Jesus said himself that

These scriptures show that God revealed to Jesus what He was doing because He loved Him and that Jesus only did what God showed Him and that we, when we follow Christ’s commands and word, will be loved by the Father too when we follow Christ’s commands.

Those who heard Jesus preach were amazed by the authority in which He taught (Mark 1:22). Christ taught with boldness because He did what He saw God doing and God revealed what He did because He loved Jesus (as mentioned earlier from John 5:19-20). If Christians follow Jesus’s commands, we are also loved by God and He will reveal to us what He is doing in like manner with Jesus! How great a gift this is!

Boldness Comes from Faith – Boldness in Faith is Maturity

When is the last time you were in church and thought your pastor was bold as a lion? What about your priest or men’s/women’s ministry leader? Certainly, there are these people in the church but is that what we teach in our churches, is this the kind of Christian we claim to be?

Peter and John (above) lived with boldness because they had faith in God to deliver them in their trails and to bring glory to those seeking Him in their quests throughout the earth.

Boldness is a sign of one who follows and spends significant time with Jesus.

To Paul, His faith in God’s ability to prevail over any obstacle in His way, and knowing that Paul himself lived in alignment with Father’s will built boldness within Paul to know obstacles were going to be prevailed over because God would use all things to bring about Paul’s good and His glory  (Romans 8:28; 11:36)!

What Is Taught Instead of Boldness Through Righteousness

As mentioned earlier, many churches teach that those in Christ have an identity as a “wretched sinner with nothing good in them.” But Paul states clearly that those in Christ must approach the throne of grace with boldness in faith. How can the two be united? Clearly, there is a disconnect in one of these teachings.

Have you ever thought about righteousness, that you may possess righteousness? Has your church ever taught that you as a follower of Christ possess righteousness? Have you been taught that you are a sinful, poor, and wretched creature and that Christ covers your sins no matter when you commit them, even after your enlightenment and renewal within him? This is a heretical teaching called vicarious substitution which you can read more on here.

What Paul believes about continuing as a sinful being post-Christ

For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance I Mine, I will repay,’ (Deuteronomy 32:35) says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people’ (Deuteronomy 32:36). It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Are you still going to continue and permit your sin as acceptable by God? Are you still fine with a life without glory? I think you’re ready for something more. I think you’re ready for the freedom Christ offered you (Luke 4:18-19)!

Boldness in Faith – A Hope for the Future

Do not look backward as Lot’s wife did, as if your past sins are an excuse for sin today. Look forward to your freedom by Christ’s redemption, by what God is doing in you now and not what he may do at some time in the future. The time is now!

Don’t let others tell you who Christ is, let His holy spirit reveal Himself to you! Watch these videos on our YouTube Channel to gain insight as to how to become a follower of Christ and receive God’s Spirit within you!