Legal Tender for the Debt of Sin

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This morning as I was laying in bed and meditating with God, I felt some strong impressions about heaven's viewpoint regarding a proper understanding of the debt created by sin and God's provision for dealing with that debt. I called this, the currency of heaven and the paperwork of the law.

Sin created a debt against God. All of humanity was plunged into this debt and since Adam no one has been able to live outside of that situation. That means that even if a person were somehow to be able to be born as a human and live their whole life without ever sinning even once, they would still have to die. Sin brought death upon all the human race and nothing we can do will change that fact for us personally.

In the logic of Paul in his explanation of this problem, when the law was introduced on Mount Sinai, it only accomplished producing a certified copy itemizing the promissory note of debt obligation or what might also be termed a certificate of debt/death.

Jesus' death on the cross produced a sworn affidavit of forgiveness that stated that all charges were dropped. This actually meant that not only were there no charges being pressed on the part of the creditor who was owed the debt, but that the bank of heaven contained accounts full of currency solidly backed by the valuable assets of heaven that were available to every sinner who might ever have lived or would live. These accounts were assigned in the name of each person and that person could draw on those accounts at any time for any and all needs that sin may have generated in their life. The funds in their account were far more than anything they could ever spend so there was no need to worry about running out of currency. In addition, each person's name is found to have been entered into the Book of Life which entitles them to an eternity of life in the presence of God along with all the holy angels.

The law's demands can only be satisfied when all paperwork is in order.

Legally, entrance into paradise requires completed proper documentation regarding our standing in relationship to the requirements of the law before entrance can be granted. Otherwise, people still infected with seeds of death might reinfect the whole universe and the infected thinking from debt mentality could continue to reinfect God's creation indefinitely.

What is yet needed for us to enter heaven and spend eternity in the presence and love of God?

What is required for this debt to be actually paid off permanently?

Currency used to satisfy any debt must be issued by a recognized, legally legitimate bank before it can be used to pay off any debts. In our system these are called Legal Tender Notes.

What is claimed on the so-called Legal Tender that we commonly use in the United States? Take a look right now at any denomination bill that you might have in your pocket and observe the words and claims printed on it.

Federal Reserve Note

The United States of America

This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.

In God We Trust.

What do you commonly receive in return after spending this kind of currency?

Receipts.

What is the purpose of a receipt?

To provide proof of payment for any public or private debt by your use of this legal currency.

It is common knowledge that our own sins have only served to increase the massive debt that we already found ourselves in just by being born into a race of sinners. Yet God has been unveiling a plan whereby which we may become free of this debt, but sadly there is much more confusion about this plan than there is clarity as to how this effectively is to be accomplished.

If all sins both past, present and future have already been forgiven as demonstrated by the death of the Son of God on the cross (that is a separate but extremely vital concept to understand), then why is any further paperwork required for the whole problem of sin to be wrapped up for good? Why aren't we all just escorted into heaven right now if charges against us have been dropped on the part of God?

It seems quite apparent that it is not enough for just God to do His part in this plan of salvation. What is also required is for each sinner/debtor to make a free and un-coerced decision regarding how they are going to relate to this provided forgiveness. For it is not enough simply to acknowledge that forgiveness was demonstrated by God on the cross; it is vital that forgiveness must also be received and internalized for it to accomplish the necessary change needed in the hearts of those forgiven.

At this point there is also another issue that must be clarified in order to avoid further confusion about the word 'forgiveness.' In the original languages of the Bible there are actually a number of different words that mean different things but that were all translated into the one English word 'forgiveness.' This has resulted in creating a great deal of confusion about what forgiveness actually means and has caused many to come to wrong conclusions about the meaning of salvation and our relationship with God. I do not have time here to fully unpack these issues, but I will simply say that there is a distinct difference between the forgiveness that has ever been in the heart of God toward sinners and the kind of forgiveness experienced in the heart of sinners that radically affects their opinions about God.

What is vital to understand is that the safety of all heaven is at risk, for this is not just a technical legal problem we are dealing with here, it is rather an attitude problem rooted in the disposition of our hearts. God cannot risk filling heaven with sinners that are simply forgiven from His side but who still do not believe in their deepest hearts that they are forgiven. To have those kind of people in heaven would mean that He still would be prevented from unveiling His face, His character, His glory in its fullest measure as is the case right now. This is because the intensity of God's passionate love is so overwhelmingly powerful and pure that any trace of unbelief, any failure of synchronization in a heart that is out of harmony with the heartthrobs of heaven would result in excruciating agony and torment to an extreme magnitude reacting in the mind and heart of anyone thus disposed.

God desires and plans for there to be no more pain, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more sin. But this can only come through a completely free choice of every individual involved. It also involves the completion of the healing of each heart from all unbelief about the real truth about God. These choices must be made living in our time of probation on this earth, for that is the only time available for us to determine our eternal destiny. After this life there will be no more opportunities to make yet another decision about which side we are going to serve. We will choose now who will receive our loyalty and then we move on to firm up that decision from this point forward. This is what is called character formation where our choices determine the kind of person we become permanently.

So what are the required “documents” needed to wrap up our case before the court of the universe? And how can we properly utilize the currency provided us to verify our qualification to enter in through the gates into the city of God? (Rev. 22:14)

The Bible says that the certificate of death, the debt that sin created against each of our names, was nailed to the cross. (Col. 2:13, 14) But what was actually nailed to the cross literally? It was Jesus who was nailed to the cross, not some paper detailing our debt to God. Jesus Himself became a demonstration of the effect of sin, but also as a revelation of God's attitude of forgiveness toward us.

In essence, Jesus, on the cross, swore out the affidavit of the pre-existing forgiveness that has been in the heart of God the creditor all along. This means that our accounts in the bank of heaven have been linked to the account of Jesus our Savior who also happens to own all of heaven. This means that we have been given full access to all the currency issued by this super bank. And what is the greatest asset of infinite value that backs up this currency? It is the attitude of willingness on the part of God to lay down His own life and embrace the death that we were destined to experience so as to prove publicly the reality of His disposition of forgiveness towards everyone that defines His heart.

Yet just because our names currently exist in the Book of Life right now does not mean they can never be removed. Our choices as to what we do related to our bank account in heaven determines whether our account will remain open for eternity or whether through illegal actions and the treason of unbelief we might cause our account to be closed and our name removed. (Rev. 20:12, 15; 21:27)

What kinds of actions or choices could result in our accounts being canceled and the loss of all the credit so freely yet expensively provided for us through that account?

Open treason against the Owner of the bank and the authority of His jurisdiction.

Prolonged attempts to illegally embezzle the funds provided us. This kind of attitude produces hardening of the heart which blocks us from even being able to return the receipts needed to verify possession of all the goods and services that have been provided to us by heaven.

The use of counterfeit currency that attempts to mimic the currency of heaven.

What is the real problem with counterfeit currency?

Legal currency is supposed to be based on something of inherent value to back up that currency (unlike the currency we use in the U.S.). Legitimate currency that maintains its true value must have reserve assets equivalent to the value claimed on the face of the currency being circulated. Inflation occurs when more currency is printed without assets to back it up, meaning that the face value claims of the currency in reality are actually false.

Counterfeit currency is both unauthorized and even more importantly, is not based on anything of real value or worth. But even beyond that, what is the inherent nature of a counterfeit currency note?

To be effective a counterfeit must look convincingly like real currency. It must appear to have the face value that appears on the true in order to deceive others into accepting it as legal tender.

Are there going to be people who conduct their business now relying on counterfeit principles and will even attempt to present counterfeit currency at the judgment in order to enter into the joys of paradise? Absolutely! Jesus talks about this clearly in Matt. 7:21-23, but He also spells out the results of that attempt. Heaven will never be fooled by counterfeit currency, but unfortunately most of us can easily be duped into accepting it and trying to spend it.

Counterfeit currency of heaven's money would be any kind of righteousness or assertion of inherent value that has any trace of human attempts to satisfy the demands of the law or to assist in payment of the debt created by sin. Any trace of human righteousness/worthiness produced by our own efforts to keep the requirements of the law is tantamount to tampering with the currency of heaven, and all such attempts invalidate it's authenticity. Any tampering with that currency will result in instant disqualification of any such note and cannot be accepted as payment toward our debt.

“But,” some may say, “why is there any discussion of a debt at all if Jesus had all the charges dropped at the cross?”

That is a good question and deserves a very carefully considered examination.

It is important to be aware of just where and how this debt exists so we understand more clearly how it actually impacts our life. Let me explain.

As I noted before, whenever legal currency is spent, a receipt is produced to verify that something of value has been received in exchange for that currency. Our sins continually produce evidence of a debt on our account that needs to be satisfied. The problem is that even though God may not be pressing charges of condemnation (John 3:17), that does not mean that sin does not produce debt in our own hearts that produce debilitating and destructive effects in our own soul.

Just because Jesus has notified the court on the cross that God is not pressing charges against us does not mean no one else is accusing us in court. Satan is the accuser of the brethren and is insistent that our continued sins deserve payment and that we deserve to suffer and die. (Rom. 6:23)

Just because our accounts in heaven have been credited with sufficient amounts of currency to cover all our sin and debt does not mean that the debt or its effects are fully resolved yet. In all ages another step has always been required for people to experience the full freedom from the bondage that the debt of sin produces in the heart. While Jesus has provided all the legal tender necessary to resolve all of our debts and to mitigate their effects in our lives, it is still required for each individual to access those funds purposefully and spend those funds in exchange for true healing of their soul and to also generate the necessary receipts/proof that they believe their sins have been canceled. When the judgment arrives there will still be the accuser demanding proof of payment for every debt that our sins have created. He will go over every detail in the records of every being who has ever lived looking for any mistakes or errors or unforgiven sins that he may use against us in judgment.

In actuality though, this is the natural process of how reality operates as God designed it. Exposure to the presence of God itself results in a potentially lethal atmosphere for any unbelief or cherished sin remaining in the heart. Satan need not even be present to expose residual remnants of sin lurking in our souls. Simply increasing our awareness of God's passionate love will accomplish the very same result naturally. Any trace of sin or rebellion left unresolved in a heart when exposed to the presence of God's power of passionate love as it becomes unveiled will always result in intense agony and torment of soul that quickly becomes very obvious and internally unbearable.

It is the exposure of these pockets of unbelief related to the forgiveness of God, these seeds of unreleased attitudes of rebellion, these bonds of sympathy with any of Satan's lies about God that prove our disqualification to live successfully in the perfect, rarefied atmosphere of pure passionate love that defines all of heaven. We must avail ourselves now of the infinite credit of Christ's righteousness deposited in our account and rely only the authorized currency of heaven that has the real power to eliminate every sinful tendency or sympathy in our hearts that could prove our ruin.

This is actually the healing process called salvation. The word salvation itself originally comes from the word also translated as salve. We may use the currency of heaven to buy the balm of healing for the wounds in our hearts that are revealed to us by the convictions of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We may use the currency in our heavenly account to buy all the goods and services of heaven provided for our healing and to restore us to wholeness in preparation for fitness to enter into heaven's society.

What are the receipts needed as proof of purchase for us to gain entry into the family of heaven?

Praise, worship and spontaneous celebration from hearts full of gladness and overflowing with gratitude for all of God's provisions and riches provided to us freely. These are receipts we can display as proof that we have indeed received in our hearts what God has provided for all of our needs. Genuine praise and worship to the God of heaven, our Creator, our Savior, our Redeemer, our God, our Lover and most intimate Friend – these are the proofs of purchase that must be evident in our lives as we spend freely the riches profligately provided for us from our bank account in heaven.

Heaven has been so extravagant in its dispensing of its riches that there is no excuse for anyone to attempt to turn to any other source from which to procure healing or attempt self-vindication or produce righteousness. The stories and parables of Jesus are full of references to heaven's extravagant dispersion of funds, so much so that few are willing to believe it is true. We continually find ourselves trying to tame down extreme statements of grace, mercy and love that are found all throughout the Scriptures because of our insistent disposition toward unbelief.

But those who refuse to believe that they have an account overflowing with riches in heaven's bank, who fail to access that currency to eliminate their debts and all its effects in their hearts, these will discover too late that any other attempts to cover their debt and remove their sin will prove fatally flawed in the day of judgment and full revelation. For the word 'judgment' literally means to expose, to make open and evident and plain all the secret things that have been previously hidden from sight. This means that everything that is going on in our hearts that have been hidden from others will in that day be made completely public and exposed fully to everyone.

So, in the presence of God, the angels and every other human who has ever lived, our hearts, our choices, our thoughts, our decisions and motives will all be fully exposed like an X-rated movie that lays out the truth of what we really believed at the gut level about God as well as about ourselves. It will become painfully obvious whether we have chosen to access our heavenly credit and applied it to cover all of our debts or we have attempted to use counterfeit currency to cover our debts but which failed to effectively resolve the damage it caused in our hearts.

The location where debt actually resides is in our own hearts. That is the depository of all debt generated by sin. It is not so much in the books of heaven where the problem of sin exists as many have so long supposed, for the real problem of sin is in our own attitudes towards God, our feelings about what His feelings are towards us and our notions about how to get right with Him. It is the picture of God we have in our heart severely distorted by the lies about Him that is the core issue of sin. It is in our heart where the damage of sin has taken place, so it is necessarily in our own heart where all of the healing and re-creation must also take place in order to restore us to a condition where we may survive and thrive living in the presence of pure power and love without any trace of resistance. (Isa. 33:13-17)

Because counterfeit currency is based on fraudulent claims of worth and relies on assets that are not really of value, for these reasons it is inherently incapable to heal the damage that sin has created in our hearts. Counterfeit currency does claim to backed by substances of value just as true currency is backed by the gold and assets of heaven. But unlike the gold of heaven which is both secure, real and in abundance, our counterfeit currency of righteousness based on human performance assumes that we have something – anything – of intrinsic value that can compete or compare to the value of heaven's assets and the righteousness of Christ. His value is what is behind His currency, and this value is noted clearly in the praises found in the book of Revelation where the songs of the redeemed praise the Lamb as the only one who is really worthy of true praise and adoration. (Rev. 5:12)

In the pure atmosphere of praise to the Lamb that constantly fills all of heaven, a single note of praise for anything we might have produced by our own effort would serve as a jarring discordant note that would interfere and spoil the harmonious praises of God. Heaven cannot afford to allow any selfish songs played anywhere in heaven, for this would only serve to perpetuate the problem of sin even longer. Sin at its core is selfishness and selfishness always results in disharmony, pain, separation and finally death. Self-praise is so jarringly out of harmony with the adoring praises of heaven to the Source of all life, joy and blessings that it would only humiliate, embarrass and even torture the souls of any who might attempt such an absurd exercise.

This is why it is so crucial that we abandon all notions of dependence on any value of our own making in our choice of currencies to address the problem of our debts and to find the needed healing for our hearts. We must stop using counterfeit money to attempt our healing and must rely only on the currency provided for us through our account in heaven. That is the only currency of legitimate value that can procure for us the effective medicine and care that bring about the true healing for all the pain and disease that sin has produced in our lives.

So when we are asked to produce the necessary papers for entrance into heaven, we can be prepared to only offer the receipts of praise for the Lamb who's blood provided the evidence for all the forgiveness and riches that have been credited to our heavenly account. Authentic and spontaneous praise can then be released freely from our heart, not just our head, and becomes the proof that we have renounced all attempts to justify ourselves or to utilize any other monetary system for our benefit. Our attitude to celebrate God's goodness will produce expressions of freedom and joy for the healing that has restored within us the ability to unresistingly enjoy being ravished in the love of our Savior and God. This in turn becomes the 'paperwork', the receipts that permit us then to add our own songs of loyal praise to the millions of beings that already sing with joyful praise in adoration of God throughout the rest of the universe.

What of those who have chosen to continue to rely on other faulty sources for healing and hope and eternal life? What will happen to those who continues to try to use counterfeit currency? What will become of those who fail to produce authentic receipts verifying they have accepted and embraced the forgiveness and wealth so freely deposited in their heavenly account?

It will be revealed that their failure to dip into the accounts provided for them and their involvement in the spreading and use of counterfeit methods for healing will result in their account being closed permanently and their names removed from the Book of Life because they have rejected it themselves. It is never God's desire for this to occur, but it would never be safe to allow such ones to be retained in the Book of Life who have chosen instead to commit high treason against all the generosity that heaven has provided for their restoration into the perfect vulnerable society of heaven.

Those who reject the offer of God's free grace in favor of any other method that relies in any way on their own performance or intrinsic worth commit treason. Apart from simple trust in God's view of their value and total dependence on His indwelling Spirit, they are found wanting and remain in debt. Even though God has provided more than enough funds necessary for our debt to be paid, and though even the certificate of death/debt was nailed to the cross in the person of God's own Son and all charges were dropped so far as God was concerned, if we do not avail ourselves of that forgiveness by faith and accept the funds provided by trusting in them, the debt still exists in our own heart.

Be very clear here – this debt does not exist in the heart of God or in His attitude towards us. God never harbors ill feelings, grudges or condemnation towards sinners that result in punishments against them. Debt is totally resident in the hearts of those who refuse to believe in God's disposition of love, forgiveness and grace towards them. This is all about the issue of belief – real heart belief. That is why the apostle John referred so much to this word in relation to the testimony of Jesus. Resistance against belief in what Jesus revealed about God in the heart of anyone refusing to receive and embrace the grace and forgiveness flowing from the heart of God becomes the source of torment and death when they are finally exposed to the full revelation of that same love in the presence of God.

It is ineffective to work on trying to produce in ourselves symptoms of salvation. It is of no use to try to force ourselves to offer superficial praises of gratitude to God in attempts to appear like we have experienced salvation when we have not. Counterfeit receipts will also be obvious and exposed as frauds in time of judgment. Only authentic currency and authentic receipts will stand up under the brilliant light of truth in the scrutiny of judgment. And remember, it is not God that is examining our record of choices but it is everyone else who will see clearly every thought and motive of our heart. The judgment will be open to all and in the end all will be unanimous in their final verdict that will vindicate God absolving Him of every accusation that has ever been leveled against Him.

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let everyone who hears say, "Come." And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. (Revelation 22:17 NRSV)