March 18, 2019
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My wife, like many women, was like "wonder woman" when it came to rescuing clothes that seemed to be ruined by a big stain. Like our sons' high school football uniforms. Okay, our colors were blue and white. I said white. The idea was to have those white pants as dirty as possible at the end of the game, of course, to prove that you played hard. But the idea also was to have those pants really white at the beginning of the next game. So, home they came with these pants that seemed terminally stained with dirt and mud and grass stains. Now the only way my very intelligent wife would let them play football was if they agreed to wash their own uniforms. Right, smart lady. But she showed them how to get those stains out with her magic combination of regular detergent and dishwasher detergent. No matter how dirty those things had been, somehow they came out clean. And yes, those stains were all gone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Stain is Gone."
You know, God is in the stain-removing business. And someone listening today needs to take advantage of this restoring miracle that only God can do.
Here's the word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:1. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That is really good news. Imagine, no matter what you've done, no matter how far you've fallen, no matter who've you hurt, no matter how dirty you've gotten, if you belong to Jesus, you are clean - the stain is gone! No matter what your feelings tell you. No matter what people say about you. No matter what the devil tries to tell you. "No condemnation" is no condemnation! That's what the Bible says! The stain is gone.
If you've been to the cross of Jesus to get your sins forgiven, are you living like there's "no condemnation" on you? Not if you're taking your cue from the people who know what you were; who remember all that junk in your past and won't let you forget. You won't believe you're "un-condemned" if you believe the feelings you have sometimes; feelings of shame and unworthiness because of the stuff you've done in the past. Actually, one of the devil's favorite strategies for bringing us down is this cycle of shame to make you feel ashamed for where you've failed so you'll give up and do more things you'll feel ashamed for. Sound familiar?
You may even be tripped up on this by judgmental Christians who seem to specialize in making other believers feel like failures, or by flashbacks of the old you. You'll pick up that old backpack full of your past, the one you left at the cross of Jesus, and you're going to start carrying it again. You're going to be all bent over like you used to be.
If you define who you are by your past, you will always be "The Sinner." If you define who you are by the pain you've been through, you'll always be "The Victim." But if you decide to define who you are by your relationship with Jesus Christ, you will be "The Forgiven" and you will keep pursuing the new you instead of reverting to the old you. What a holy God has forgiven, no one has a right to hold against you - including you. He says you're clean. You're clean. Now start living like it!
And if you've never given yourself to Jesus to be your personal Savior from your personal sin, you could do that this very day. And you could experience a spiritual shower that only the man who died for you can give you. Or as so many people have described it, this hundred pound weight being lifted off your back the minute you come to Jesus to have it all forgiven. Maybe you woke up again this day guilty and dirty, but you can go to sleep tonight clean! You want that? That's what Jesus does for people.
If you want to begin your relationship with Him, you want to experience His forgiving for yourself, tell Him right now, "Jesus, I believe you died for my sins. I believe you walked out of your grave. You're alive to walk into my life. Beginning today I am yours." At that point it's great for you to go to our website, ANewStory.com, and get there the biblical information that will show you your guarantee that you belong to Jesus.
It doesn't matter how dirty you've gotten. It doesn't matter how deep the stain is. When Jesus makes you clean, you are really clean, and the stain is gone.