Please keep in mind that this is not a judgment on us as a person but on the sin that dwells in us. God is beginning the destruction of His enemy, and the judgment and destruction must commence in the house of God.

You may have been a Christian for many years. Now you suddenly have become aware of sin in your life. The Lord suddenly has come to His temple and is ready to deliver you from slavery to sin.

The best way to prove what I am saying, after it seems to you like it might be in the Bible, is to try it to see if it works. When the Spirit of God brings a sin in your life to your attention, get down before the Lord and confess the sin to Him. Tell God exactly what you have done. Describe the behavior and name it as clearly as you can. Then see if it does not leave. See if confessing it clearly does not make a difference in the hold it has maintained over you. If you like, get a fellow Christian to hear your confession and pray with you. Then you will know whether or not I am telling you the truth.

I think we are in a new day when it comes to deliverance from slavery to sin! I think we are on the threshold of Canaan, ready to enter and take possession of the land of resurrection life.

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:27,28—NIV)

In the above passage we see that Christ was sacrificed to take away the sins of many people, not just to forgive the sins but to take them away. His appearance the second time is to bring salvation. It is possible that the taking away of sin requires two actions. First, the forgiveness of the sins. This was completed by the blood sacrifice made on the cross of Calvary. The second, which will be fulfilled at the appearing of Christ, is salvation in the sense of removing sin.

The question is, when the Bible says "he will appear a second time" is it referring to the worldwide second coming of the Lord or another appearing? Since the Book of Revelation states plainly that when Christ returns at His second coming every eye will see Him, and the verse above says He will appear to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him, our opinion is that the coming mentioned here is not referring to the great second coming of the Lord to set up His Kingdom on the earth but to the coming mentioned in Malachi, the coming to cleanse the Lord's servants.

To be continued.