Forgiveness

It's great that we are given the privilege of having our sins forgiven by confessing them to God. The Scripture teaches we all sin, but that we have direct access to God, through Jesus, for forgiveness.

1 JOHN 1:8-9, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Although God cannot look upon sin and we are to strive to eliminate sin from our lives, Jesus continues to be the Advocate, or lawyer, for Christians when they sin.

1 JOHN 2:1-2, "My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." (also PSA 103:10-13)

WE ARE TOLD TO FORGIVE

When Jesus told the disciples how to pray, He made it very plain that we are to forgive one another if we expect God to forgive us.

MAT 6:9-15, "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."

I think one reason we are to pray for God to forgive us just like we forgive others is that any unforgiveness on our part is a sign that we have forgotten our sins. When we really realize what the Lord has done for us, we will extend that mercy to others. Jesus also made it very plain that we are to be persistent in forgiving one another.

MAT 18:21-22, 35, "Then Peter came and said to Him, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.'

THE CHURCH TOLD TO FORGIVE

Christians were commanded to forgive both as individuals and as the Body of Christ, or Church.

JOHN 20:23, "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

BAPTISM FOR FORGIVENESS

We are never to walk in an attitude of unforgiveness, but the Church is also told to perform a specific act of forgiveness, for the new believer. Baptism has always been for forgiveness.

MARK 1:4, "John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."

LUK 24:46-47, "and He said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

Many Christians argue about many aspects of baptism. They seem to constantly look for some magic formula of words to say when they baptize, but the Bible never quotes what anyone said when they baptized people. In all of their fighting details, most of them have no idea of why they are to baptize in the first place. The act of baptism is when the church tells and shows the new believer that as Christ has forgiven their sin as head of the Body of Christ, they - the Body itself - also forgives their sin and welcomes them into fellowship with the rest of the believers. Like I said, it's great to have God forgive our sin, but it is not a complete job if the Church doesn't forgive also.

CHURCH TOLD TO BAPTIZE.

The Bible commands the Church to baptize just as much as it commands the believer to be baptized. One time the Great Commission was stated in such a way as to command the Church to baptize.

MAT 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

The other time Great Commission is stated in such a way as to command the believer to be baptized.

MAR 16:15-16, "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."

WE ARE NOT TO JUDGE

Should we judge? Some say yes and some say no. The Bible, in one place asks "who are you to judge?"

ROM 14:4, "Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

Another time Paul writes, "I have already passed judgment." (1 COR 5:3)

Which are we to do?

The Greek word for "judge", like our's, means more than one thing. Sometimes it means to discriminate, or to look at an issue or a situation to distinguish good from bad, right from wrong, or best from better. On the other hand, "judge" means bringing a person to trial and to condemn him.

There is a world of difference between evaluating a situation and condemning people. We are right to understand a person's actions as right or wrong, but it is never right to condemn the person. When Jesus forgave his killers, He didn't say what they were doing was right, but He asked that they not be condemned for those actions.

The book of Romans forbids us to judge the personal convictions of others. Each individual is responsible to the Lord in those situations.

In 1 Cor Paul remarks that he is not even competent to judge his own motivations, much less those of others. (1 COR 4:3-5)

The Scriptures warn that appearances give no valid basis for judging others. And James calls judging others an intrusion into an area clearly reserved to God alone.

JAM 4:11-12, "Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?"

In this context the word "judge" is used in the sense of calling a person into court and then condemning him. We are told not to treat anyone in this way. Paul even says there is no acceptable excuse for judging.

ROMANS 2:1, "Therefore you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."

When we judge and condemn another, we are asking God to punish and condemn the person, when it isn't His will that any should perish.

2 PETER 3:9, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

When we judge, we also are doing something that Jesus said He did not come to do. He never told us to condemn one another either.

JOHN 3:16-17, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him."

When Jesus forgives our sin, He will remove all of the guilt and help us change even our thoughts and desires. But if we judge and condemn others, we take into our minds and hearts the thoughts, and guilt for their sin. Isn't that crazy to let God cleanse our hearts and minds from our sin and then just fill them up with the garbage from the sin of others? God cleanses our hearts and minds so we can see Him clearer, not so we can take in more trash! We find ourselves desiring the judgment of God for others instead of His mercy.

ROM 2:3-4, "And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"

I repeat. When we judge and condemn another person, we condemn ourselves to worry about that sin. It is really ridiculous that after we have let Christ take away the quilt and condemnation of our sin, we should take upon ourselves the worry and condemnation of someone else's sin. Unforgiveness does that. It keeps our eyes off God, and keeps our attention on the works of the devil. Unforgiveness is nothing anyone can make us have; it's what we choose to have.

Let's get back to the scripture in Romans. Who was Paul talking about? In the verses just before the ones I quoted Paul described the ones who live an attitude of judgment and condemnation.

ROM 1:28-32, "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

Did you read what Paul said? If we judge others we have a depraved mind. Why? Because it is looking at the situation the opposite way from what God is. It is God's will that all be saved. But in our attitude of judgment, we are asking Him to punish the offender. We even condemn God for showing mercy to the person. That's what a depraved mind is.

When we choose to live with an attitude of judgment and condemnation, we are filled with envy, strife, deceit, malice, etc. It's not so much that we are doing these things; it's that we chosen to fill our mind with the sin others are doing. We are looking for the sin and not the good. Looking for the devil's works - instead of God's.

This also leads to attitudes of arrogance and practices such as gossip and slander.

JESUS SET AN EXAMPLE

When He was crucified, Jesus set an example of forgiveness for us to follow.

LUK 23:34, "But Jesus was saying, 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.' And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves."

He didn't wait for them to ask for forgiveness. He knew that if they were lost forever due to what they were doing to Him, He would be responsible, in a measure, for their destruction. His task was to save people, not to condemn them. This same task is also our's.

HOW DO WE FORGIVE?

Forgiving is easier said than done. Paul gave very good guidelines to help us in this.

PHI 4:4-9, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you."

You have no power to make yourself stop thinking about anything. You can only start thinking about something else. As you continue to concentrate on looking for God's work and thinking about all the positive things in this world, the negative thoughts about the devil's works will leave your mind.

As this scripture said, you will not understand all about how God will work out the situations, but you don't have to. You just need to trust God and keep your eyes on him.

Again, our job is not to condemn the world and look for everything wrong, it is to help save the world by helping to reconcile it with God. You can only do this by keeping your eyes on Him.

We often build up walls around ourselves to keep from being hurt. They also keep us from under- standing and helping one another. One of the things Jesus died for was to destroy these walls of enmity.

EPH 2:14-16, "For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity."

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