WHEN GOD FORGIVES

Today I want to do a bit of a study on something we may have touched on in a previous lesson but something I believe we need to hit head on and not only for our own sakes but also for the sake of others.

Again this is one of those subjects that is difficult at times to accomplish but is, according to God and His Word, a definite must if heaven is to be a reality for anyone of us. The subject is "Forgiveness."

The first thing we need to do is to define the word from the language of the Bible. In the Greek it means to "forgive, forsake, lay aside, leave,let (alone, be, go, have), omit, put (send) away, remit, suffer, yield up"(Strong's Greek Dictionary). When I think of my sins against God, I am very thankful that this is what He does when I repent. He lays them aside, He remits them, He sends them away, He omits them completely, and treats me as though they never took place (Justified, made innocent).

He does not throw them up in my face and remind me of the awful things I did "way back when." When God forgives, He forgives absolutely. But understand this; there are conditions to His forgiving me and you. Two things, according to God's Word, must take place if you and I are to remain in a state of forgiveness by God. We will look at the first one this week and the second one in our next study. First of all, we need to repent of any sin or sins in our life.

That means that we must recognize where we have failed God and where we have been disobedient to Him and His will. Often in our lives we are too busy looking at the wrongs of others and not focusing on our own failures toward God and our own need to repent and get right with Him.

I recall the time just prior to Christ being crucified as the disciples were gathered in the upper room for the Passover. Jesus said that one of them would betray Him (Matthew 26:21). I noticed something in that story that too often goes unnoticed. The disciples were so concerned about who it was that would betray Christ that they each spoke up and said, "Is it I Lord?"

Nowhere is it even assumed that there were whispers like, "Surely it must be Peter, we know what he is like when the Lord is not around", or, "It must be Judas, He handles the money and we all know how that can turn out." The truth is they looked inside themselves and not out to anyone else. The question we should ask ourselves is this, "Have I sinned against my God? Am I even now doing something that would hinder another soul from knowing and accepting the Truth of God's Holy Word?"


If there is one thing that separates the Christian from the non-Christian it is the fact of forgiveness. This is why Christ came to earth and this is why Christ died that cruel death on the cross (Matthew 1:21). This is what each of us needs and this is what God and Christ offer.


Each of us must examine ourselves honestly by the standard of God's Holy Word and make repentance as needed. No person is "Good Enough" within themselves to gain salvation. Not one of us is without sin; all of us need the forgiveness that only God can give. You may be a 'good' person, moral, upstanding and loving to your fellow man.


But understand this; people do not go to heaven because they are good people in those ways. People go to heaven because they have accepted Christ on His terms. For the same reason, people do not go to an eternal hell because they were 'not-so-good' people. People go to hell because they rejected that same Christ
(Read Isaiah 64:6; Philippians 3:9).


I would encourage you to accept Christ on His terms and gain the forgiveness you need today to be right with Him. That only comes by repenting of sin, confessing Christ as the only begotten Son of God, and being buried by immersion into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38: 1 Peter 3:21).

Next week we will look at the second part of this subject that can be more difficult for some. Pray about that and I will see you in our next study.

May God Bless…