How much are believers forgiven in Christ? Are we righteous only until our next sin?

Believer, Hebrews 10:12 says: "Christ, however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever, and then He sat down at the right side of God."

See the NLT: "But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand."

Christ's one sacrifice for sins is not just for sins that we committed before we became born-again. His one sacrifice for sins is good for all time. Based on Christ's one sacrifice for sins that is effective forever, the Holy Spirit testifies to us in verse 17 of the same Hebrews 10:

14 "And by His one perfect sacrifice He made us perfectly holy and complete for all time!

15 The Holy Spirit confirms this to us by this Scripture, for the Lord says,

16 “Afterwards, I will give them this covenant: I will embed My laws into their hearts and fasten My Word to their thoughts.”

17 And then He says,

“I will not ever again remember their sins and lawless deeds!”

Understand that in Christ, God does not remember our sins. Why? Because Christ died for our entire lifetime of sins. Understand that for God to not remember our sins, it means we have sins that He would have remembered were it not for the sacrifice of Jesus. The wages of sin is death. One death. Hebrews 9 tells us:

"27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many."

Christ died our death, for our lifetime of sins. Once. God's word is very clear on how He sees all who believe in Jesus: Romans 5:9-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Beware of "men of God" who preach that you are only righteous in God's sight until your next sin; those who preach that you will still experience God's wrath when God said "never"; those who put up your ability to obey the law as additional terms and conditions for your salvation; those who preach: "Now that you are born again, your salvation depends on how well you obey the law in order to remain righteous before God, escape His wrath and make it to heaven." This abominable mixture that is neither Law nor Grace is the "neither cold nor hot" that Christ spoke of in Revelation 3. Romans 3 is very clear-

"27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

But ministers of Satan behind some pulpits preach dependence on your own ability to obey the law in order for you to become or remain righteous before God and escape God's wrath. Notice Christ who died to give us right-standing with God and save us from wrath has been subtly removed from their own equation of salvation and replaced with human effort at being godly? But the arm of flesh will fail.

Believer, God Himself made the Way for us to be godly (be like God) and it is through the suffering of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Isaiah prophesied of His suffering for us in Isaiah 53. See the effect of His sacrifice for us in Isaiah 53:11-

"After He has suffered, He will see the light of life.

And He will be satisfied.

My godly servant will make many people godly

because of what He will accomplish.

He will be punished for their sins."

But preachers of doctrines of demons will tell you: "Now that you are born-again, you have to depend on your ability to obey the law in order to be godly and escape God's wrath and make it to heaven." Everything that Christ died that we might freely have! This is the same strategy that Satan used to deceive Eve when he told her that that she could be godly (be like God) if she did something by human effort. But God had already made her godly; just as He has made all who believe in Jesus godly because we believe. See the forbidden fruit as a picture of the law that many are trying to obey in order to be godly (be like God) in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG)-

"The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me...."

Satan, through his ministers who pretend to be for Christ, is still seducing people to eat of the forbidden fruit aka the Law in order to be godly. It seemed good to Eve to eat, just as it seems good for many to strive to be godly by obeying the law, afterall what is bad in doing one's best to obey the law in order to be godly? But God's word says "the letter of the law kills." Proverbs 14:12 counsels us:

"There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death."

The people that Jesus counseled to enter through the narrow gate that leads to life were not people who couldn't wait for Him to finish service so they could go and fornicate or watch porn. They were people whose sole desire was to "enter" God's kingdom- Jews whose lives depended on their ability to obey the Law of Moses. Christ Himself is the narrow gate. "We are saved by Grace through faith." The law is not of faith. Trying to obey the Law to get right with God is the broad road that leads to destruction. This way seems right to many, "But its end is the way of death." Galatians 5:4 tells us:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."

Satan's ploy is to keep believers cut off from Christ and under sin's dominion by keeping people focused on doing the "right" thing of trying to obey the law in order to be godly, but the more one does this, the more sin will multiply: "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14. The perpetuation of this false doctrine is also Satan's ploy to keep people under the curse of the law:

"Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, “Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!”" Galatians 3:10.

Believers, by grace, let's not be found here. God Himself made the Way for us to be able to live in triumph over sin and death and it has got nothing to do with human striving at obeying the law; only when we receive God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ do we get to live in triumph over sin and death:

"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:17.

Remember Adam didn't drop dead physically on the day his death sentence came into effect. Death is a process that includes sickness, lack, all earthly ills aka "death begun" and the second death in hell. In Christ, we get to live in triumph over sin and death.

Believer, in Christ, our past, present and future sins are forgiven. When you know that you are forgiven much, you will love much. Love is lacking in many places of worship because many churchgoers are being denied the knowledge of Christ's love for us- so much that He bore our entire lifetime of sins in His own body and died our death for us to live. There is no condemnation for us in Him, not so that we should go on sinning sprees; it is Christ's "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "go and sin no more." But try to obey the law in order to be godly (thus rejecting Christ's sacrifice) and sin will have dominion. This is the logic of our salvation in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says of the message of the cross:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God."

Believer, don't trust yourself. Trust in the One of whom it is said in Titus 2:14-

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Believer, beware of "men of God" who tell you to trust in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) that will fail at overcoming your sins but reject the power of our Saviour Jesus Christ to transform even the vilest offender who believes to live right. Don't deceive yourself by believing that you can "at least obey some laws" or that some sins are beneath you like Peter did. Proverbs 16:18 counsels us:

"Your boast becomes a prophecy of a future failure. The higher you lift up yourself in pride, the harder you’ll fall in disgrace."

No sin is beneath anybody. This is the only reason why we are not committing particular sins: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13:

"12 So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall. 13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

Without God screening and filtering, we would all be worse than the vilest offender.

By grace, believe that your lifetime of sins are forgiven in Christ and that in Him, God sees you as righteous through and through, even though you don't deserve it. This is grace- undeserved, unmerited, unearned favour- even favour to effortlessly live free from sins and addictions. The arm of flesh will fail but Grace who is the Person of our Saviour Jesus Christ saves from sins.

Right believing always produces right living.