the liberating secret
“There is a world of difference between the nagging, corroding condemnations of the devil, and the clear convictions of the Spirit. The devil speaks in generalities, seeking to smear us by a general sense of failure, uncleanness, confusion, heaviness of spirit. The answer to that is there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. The Spirit speaks specifically, and His voice, although rebuking us, is sweet and clean and true and acceptable. He points out some exact and immediate action by which we have given temporary entrance to sin. Satan points downward to despair, but the Spirit points upwards to cleansing.
So the detection of sin in our daily lives is no difficulty. If the cups do not run over, the red light is on. There is sin somewhere. But the One with whom we walk is light. Look honestly and frankly to Him, and it won’t take Him long to clarify for us the point where we have sinned.
Now comes the crucial moment. Having seen the light, will we walk in it? Walking is not standing still! It is progressing. Will we now walk forward, take the next step, and admit the truth about ourselves? That is what John calls confessing (1:9), which is the same word in the original as “saying”, but with the preposition “con” attached—saying with. Saying not what I think, but what the other person thinks: saying the same as God. Such confessing, of course, implies shame and contrition for the sin.
If we do that, we are walking in the light and, says John, immediately another fact of permanent validity comes into automatic operation; “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1:7). That is a fact for all time since Calvary. The blood is always cleansing. But we only see and realize our title to the glorious fact when we are fulfilling the condition of walking in the light, as He is in the light. That means the specific confession of specific sins. We are then told in an equally specific way that “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. The light that first shone on the sin is also shining on the blood. While we are walking with Him in the light with nothing known between, the blood is automatically cleansing unrecognized sin. Where known sin intervenes, there is this simple way of confession and cleansing.
Sometimes we may wonder just what is the meaning of that phrase, “the cleansing blood”. Why is the blood called precious? And why is it the glory of the saints through eternity? Moses had the priceless privilege of being the first in human history to reveal the blood to the world. To him was given the wonderful symbolic sacrifice of the Passover, with its constantly quoted word, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” He gave Israel all the details of the sacrifices, according to the pattern shown him in the mount, and culminating in that great revelation of Lev. 17, “for the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Perhaps the greatest contribution Moses made for the blessing of the world was not the deliverance of Israel, nor the mighty exploits of faith, but the revelation of the centrality of the precious blood.
The completed revelation of the meaning of the blood, given us in the New Testament, is found in Heb. 9. The life is in the blood, therefore the shedding of the blood means the pouring out of the life. It is the public evidence of the completed sacrifice (9:22). Thus whenever the blood of Christ is mentioned as the ground of our salvation and cleansing, the meaning is that the shedding of that blood in public two thousand years ago was conclusive evidence that He paid the full price for the remission of sins. To make the evidence unmistakable is the reason why John so stressed that he saw the blood and water come from His side, and “bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe”; and says again that “there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood”.
The sacrifice once made, completed and witnessed, is our solid ground and title for having no more consciousness of sins. This is the cleansing in the blood, and this is what it means when we say a thing is “under the blood”. For this reason we glory in the blood, and count it supremely precious. Our consciences, defiled and guilty through conviction of some sin committed, are freed and cleansed as we see with the eye of faith that blood shed on Calvary, and its silent message to us over the years that full atonement was made by the outpoured life of our Saviour. “How much more shall the blood of Christ . . . cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” So now in our daily walk with Jesus, we have come full circle. Undisturbed fellowship means the cup running over. When it doesn’t run over, it means that there is sin in our hearts. God, who is light, is revealing to us what that sin is. Recognizing that sin, we confess it and repent of it. Where there is confession, there is also the revelation of the cleansing blood, the token of the completed remission. And where the blood is applied by faith, the Spirit always bears witness. The fellowship is restored, and the cup again runs over.”
—Norman Grubb, The Liberating Secret, 1955
(i’ve written about how the Lord used this book to bring liberty to my own soul here…)
