Double Jeopardy

Have you ever heard of the law of double jeopardy? It’s a law we have here in the United States and what it means is that a person cannot be punished for the same crime twice. No matter what the crime is, once someone has been found guilty, convicted, then punished for that crime they can’t be brought up on those charges again.

Now keeping this law in mind, I want you to think about the day your sins were forgiven. And no I don’t mean the day you asked for forgiveness, I mean the day they were forgiven. Let me explain from the Word.

Look at Romans 6:6

“Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”

Or Romans 6:10

“For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all.”

These two verses alone explain how the law of double jeopardy works with God, only much better. Because with God as our judge we were given a substitute in Jesus who took the punishment for our sins for us. Isn’t that amazing! God loves you so much!

Now look back at the end of verse 10. It says, “He died to sin once and for all.”

This statement very clearly illustrates how born again believers cannot be punished for their sins. Jesus took care of it! He was our lamb; our substitute, our sacrifice. He died once. Did you catch that? He only had to die once, for ALL of our sins. Do you understand what that means?

It means we are free. Our sins are forgiven, every single one of them. The sin you committed 10 years ago, the sin you committed this morning, the sin you forgot to confess, and yes even the sins you will commit tomorrow or 10 years from now. It’s all been wiped away because Jesus was punished for them all 2,000 years ago and you can’t be punished for the same sin twice. Thank you, Jesus!

Now to be clear this does not mean that we have a license or desire to sin. Much like a criminal who gets a second chance at life wouldn't want to take that second chance for granted, neither should we as born again Christians. We should take every opportunity to appreciate the second chance we’ve been given and make our Father in Heaven proud. We must be sure to remember that our second chance came with a price, the blood of Jesus, and we should humble ourselves and strive to live a life that reflects that sacrifice.

So when you catch yourself doing something wrong, remember what Jesus did for you. Remember his sacrifice. And instead of being afraid of what your punishment will be, and confessing your sin in the hopes that he will forgive you, look up and thank Him for taking that punishment for you so you could be free!