Posted on 08/06/2019 6:25:43 AM PDT by metmom
“‘Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven’” (Matthew 9:2).
Jesus’ ultimate words to the paralytic, “your sins are forgiven,” represent the greatest of all divine miracles and definitely the most desirable for the one who hears them. This is the holy Son of God forgiving the sins of an unholy man. He could control nature with a word, and with these words He dismissed the man’s sins and graciously made him right with God.
The verb translated “are forgiven” means send away or do away with. David declares, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12; cf. Mic. 7:19). “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance,” Paul asserts, “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Tim. 1:15). That means Jesus came to forgive sinners who trust in Him.
Sin is hostility and rebellion against God and His law (Lev. 26:27; 1 Tim. 1:9; 1 John 3:4). It is incurable by human power (Jer. 13:23), affects all people (Rom. 3:23), affects the total person (Eph. 2:1–3), and subjects people to hell if they do not repent (2 Thess. 1:9).
Such a bleak portrait means the best news anyone can ever receive is the word that his or her “sins are forgiven.”
Ask Yourself
As you pray through a particular issue of need in your life right now, what are you really seeking? Are you only wanting the resolution of a conflict, the alleviation of pain, the mending of a relationship? Or does God want your eyes on even greater spiritual matters?
Studying God’s Word ping
It’s amazing how many people reject forgiveness.
It’s also amazing how many people reject forgiveness personally by holding grudges or refusing to forgive our neighbors.
I think in many cases that comes from not really understanding what forgiveness is.
Forgiveness is not saying ‘I forgive you’ and then holding it over the other party’s head for years and years.
Personal experience.
God Has Blotted Them Out
(click for tune)
God has blotted them out,
I'm happy and glad and free!
God has blotted them out,
You can turn to Isaiah and see:
Chapter forty four,
Twenty two and three;
God has blotted them out
And now I can shout,
For that means me!
Isaiah 44:22-3 (AV)
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions,
and, as a cloud, thy sins:
return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it:
shout, ye lower parts of the earth:
break forth into singing, ye mountains,
O forest, and every tree therein:
for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob,
and glorified himself in Israel.
No one can begin to understand this until the load of sin and guilt has been dropped at the Cross. So many sin-sick people who have been baptized as an infant and told they were "saved" bear this all their life and die, hoping as they pass on that somehow God will reward them for their struggling but moral life.
He won't.
Water baptizing doesn't save. Only admitting that you have earned God's punishment for all your wrongness, and allowing His Son Jesus to rescue you from them and become your Master will.
Neither you nor any other person has any power whatsoever to save yourself from eternal punishment for the errors you have committed. It is once for all placing yourself into the loving protection of Jesus, Who alone does all the saving when you ask and commit that will free you, bring relief and joy to you and your family, and give you life with Him after death.
He will not and cannot allow you to fall back into the old life when you give yourself over completely into His ownership.
Just sayin'.
This is true. But I’m talking about the attitude of the other person, the one who was initially wronged.
Often, ‘forgiveness’ takes the form of, ‘I’m going to hold a grudge against you for years for this and gossip about you behind tour back.’
So was I. Did you read what I said? The wronged person cannot effectively "forgive" (=erase the guilt of the offender) until the transaction of repentance and restoration takes place.
That's God's plan, He made it so, not me. The one offended is hust fooling him/herself, trying to suppress the hurt, without curing the cause. The psychologist calls this "repression," and it simply does not work. Putting the affair out of waking consciousness (denial) does not take care of the problem. It is not a loving move, and it makes the represser sick, often a co-dependent.
God doesn't repress his hate of sin. He recognizes it, but is patient with the sinner, up to a point. That kind of patience is well-termed "long-suffering," is it not?
God requires confession/repentance for Him to effect the abandonment of remembrance or retribution on His part, because of the cost of it. But he does it because He is loving as well as righteous.
How great a love that is!
Yes, but the point I’m making is how people distort God’s example of forgiveness by remaining spiteful even after the other party has repented.
Are we not on the same page here?
Oh, well. I think I made myself clear, once it is scrutinized.
I think I get now.
Or worse yet thinking God is spiteful and angry and needs to be appeased by our works/prayers to saints/wearing special medals/getting in good with His mom after He has forgiven us!
Catholics will NEVER ‘forgive’ Luther!!
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