For the Believer, there is no Inventory to Take!

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:  "And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.  "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12) This is the New Covenant for every believer in the Body of Christ. We do not sit and itemize our sins from day to day. We are not called to look at ourselves or depend on ourselves anymore. Paul explains this in the Book of Colossians: "If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)  He is our new life, Jesus Christ! He is actively working on our behalf. The New Covenant is based on everything that Jesus Christ has done for us. Our job -- and  it's so easy that it's hard for the man who wants to be complicated: Believe! "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John6: 29) It is appalling how little this has been preached! But because Jesus Christ is right now the propitiation for all of our sins (1 John 2: 1-2), we can rest assured that in Christ we are forever righteous (Daniel 9: 24; 2 Corinthians 5: 21) So, all of our sins are forever forgiven. As far as God is concerned, we are no longer that person in our fleshly, fallen body! "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 11) When a sense of resentment, of fear, of anger, of any hostile emotion rises up within us, we must rest in our new righteousness standing before God, no longer identifying with hostile feelings of the flesh: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5: 19-21) We do not have to feel ashamed of our old Adam nature, for it has been crucified with Christ: "20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21) For the believer in Jesus Christ, we do not take our inventories over and over, every day. We do not seek forgiveness because Jesus Christ has already forgiven all of our sins: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Colossians 2: 13) "All" means "all"! Don't believe it? Here's another account: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7) "All sin"-- did you read that? and "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1: 9) "All unrighteousness" - this passage in itself, and coupled with the context of the entire first chapter of John, outlines clearly that we do not keep confessing our sins, for the blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness! We do not confess our sins over and over, because he has forgiven us our sins and all  unrighteousness. Not just the unrighteousness from your past, not just the unrighteousness of your present, but of your entire life!  In effect, believers do not have an "inventory to take" because Jesus Christ has taken stock of our sin problem and effectively dealt with it entirely at the Cross. That is why we can boldly proclaim: "I am the righteousness of God in Christ!" (2 Corinthians 5: 21) He only asks that we keep receiving the gift of righteousness and grace: "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17) The Devil wants us to focus on ourselves, our sins, and our circumstances. God wants us to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, who is our propitiation and our righteousness, ever-reminding us through His Holy Spirit that we have righteousness forever! (John 16: 8-11) For the believer, there is no inventory to take, for Christ has taken every bad stock in our lives, forever!