Forgiveness 

All men stand guilty of having broken the law of God,  and the penalty for breaking the law is death.  “For the wages sin is death…” (Romans 6:23)

Sin deserves death for two very clear reasons.  1.) Sin is acting against God and His very nature.  Sin attempts to tear down God’s nature of purity  and morality,  of holiness and glory,  of justice and righteousness and of love and grace.  2.) Sin is rebellion against God,  causing people to reject Him, ignore Him,  disobey Him,  refuse to live for Him according to His written Word, and even deny Him.

During the “Lord’s Supper,”  Jesus made a glorious statement,  “This is My blood of the covenant,  which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26: 28)  In the Greek,  forgiveness means remission,  to forgive,  the wrong is cut out, sent off and sent away from the wrongdoers.  The sin is separated from the sinner.

There are four main ideas in the Biblical concept of forgiveness.  1.) Forgiveness is needed because of wrong doing and guilt.  “…For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)  2.) There is the idea of total forgiveness.  “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven,  whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” (Romans 4: 7, 8)  3.) There is the idea of forgiveness that maintains fellowship with God.  When the child of God slips into sin, fellowship is disturbed and even broken.  The condition for restoring the fellowship is confessing and forsaking the sin.  “He who conceals his sin does not prosper,  but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”  (Proverbs 28: 13)  4.) There is the idea of a releasing from guilt.  This is the main difference between man’s forgiving man and God’s forgiving a man.  A man may forgive a person for wrongdoing him,  but he can never remove the guilt that his friend feels.  And often he cannot remove the resentment he feels within his own heart.  Only God can remove the guilt of wrongdoing and assure the removal of resentment, and God does both.  “If we confess our sins,  He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1: 9)

Many a born again Christian knows the joy that King David felt when he wrote,  “For as high as the heavens are above the earth,  so great is His love for those who fear Him;  as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”  (Psalms 103: 11,12)

All who confess their sins to Christ and receive Him as Savior and Lord will be forgiven and given a fresh clean start before God.  They will also be given the ability to overcome sin and to forgive others.  (1 John 5: 4 / Ephesians 4: 32)

Will you accept God’s total forgiveness found through Jesus Christ?  “In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin,  in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)